Falling
by PasUneVampire
Summary: Tony Stark joined the Avengers as Iron Man before his kidnapping in Afghanistan. When Tony returns to Manhattan, he is a different man. He suffers from PTSD and tries to hide his pain, but no one is fooled. A certain vindictive trickster comes back to claim what 'should have been his' by any means necessary. Warning: Language, dark themes, self-harm, and some light Stony slash
1. The Jericho Missile

**This is the rewritten version of my older story which I have decided abandon. This story will not have any Sherlock Holmes characters in it, along with a few other changes, such as a change in some of the previous flashbacks and how they are written.**

**Full Summary: Tony Stark built the Iron Man suit to protect him in battle with the Avengers. When testing out a new weapon for his suit, named the Jericho, the compact missile is hit mid-course, causing an explosion. Tony is captured, and all of the events from Iron Man I happen. When Tony returns to Manhattan, he is a different man. He suffers from PTSD and depression. **

**Warning: Language, dark themes, self-harm, and some light male/male Stony slash**

**Don't like, don't read!**

**Disclaimer: I own squat.**

**This chapter is sort of the prologue.**

Chapter One: The Jericho Missile

"I don't understand you sometimes, Tony. Sure, the suit is great for battle, but it would have been safer for you if you had built it to fly itself or something. I don't like it when you risk your life to show off how cool your suit is."

"So you admit it's cool," Tony replies with a smirk.

"You know that's not how I meant it. Besides, why did you have to leave the country just to test your new upgrade? There are plenty of testing sites over here in America that you probably could have just bought if you had wanted to."

"Aww, but that's no fun. 'Sides Pep, _some people_ actually like to take a break from their crazy lives every once in a while for a little vacation."

Pepper sighed, giving Tony an exasperated look over the phone. "Just test your stupid new toy and get back here in the States. You do remember the board meeting we have tomorrow, right?"

"Wha- Oh yeah, yeah. Of course I remember. Don't worry, I'll ever try to get there early," Tony gave his best convincing smile.

"I need to go now, I'm getting another call. Just try to show up to the meeting less drunk than you were last time. I really don't want to have to cover up for you again when you're puking your guts out in the lobby restroom again."

Tony grimaced. "Alright, I'll try. Bye Pep."

"Bye Tony."

Tony Stark closed his Stark-phone with a sigh. He looked out across the deserted hills in the far off distance, spotting the small target markers standing in a row. Tony grinned. His new compact missile would have a better accuracy than the current model in his suit. It would be easier to use during flight, could fly twice as far as his current model could, and it was small enough that Tony could fit in two of these missiles in each arm, instead of just one of the old ones from the Mark IV. Tony walked towards the small tent area to a wooden crate, the sides stamped with "Jericho Missile."

Tony picked up an old and damaged Iron Man suit glove. The hand repulser had been damaged beyond repair in a past fight, but his suit had a shiny new glove fitted to it by the next afternoon. Besides being used to test newer models for compact missiles, the old glove was completely harmless. It had been an annoyance to hold up the heavy metal glove without the rest of his suit, so Tony had simply taken out any piece of unneeded wiring or metal in the glove, besides those used for the compact missiles.

Placing his right had into the glove, Tony used his left hand to load a single missile into the correct spot. Tony walked a few yards to the right, away from the tent and his car. Aiming his hand towards the far off hills, Tony lined it up with the first target.

Time seemed to move in slow motion. The missile shot off towards its target at lightning speed. About half way to the hills, a small, almost invisible object collided with the Jericho. The desert valley was covered in an intense, blinding, white light.

Tony looked up, dazed and confused. He was lying on his back, and people he had never seen before were surrounding him. When had they gotten there? Where were they taking him? Why did his chest hurt so much? And why was he so damn tired all of the sudden?

The last thing Tony was aware of before losing consciousness was being forced into the back of a Land Rover, which gave a hard jerk as it rushed off to a place unknown.

**A/N: Any thoughts? Please send me a review or any suggestions you may have. Thanks! -A**


	2. Nightmares

**Disclaimer: I own squat.**

**IMPORTANT NOTE: This chapter picks up when Tony is wandering in the desert after his escape from the caves, then skips to the very end of the Iron Man movie.**

Chapter Two: Nightmares

A blinding light shone in Tony's eyes. It was hot, incredibly so. There was nothing around for probably many miles. Tony's only thought were to keep walking until he was safe, all while making sure his arc reactor didn't overheat under the hot sun.

He wandered, on and on through the endless desert. Tony couldn't believe how foolish he'd been, thinking that the hardest part of his escape was getting away from that horrible cave. No, he didn't even think how hard it might be to even figure out if he might have been walking in circles for the past few hours. His chest hurt, he was dehydrated, his legs were burning from walking so far, he had a horrible headache from his crash landing, and Tony pretty much just felt like shit all over.

Not to mention that stupid buzzing in his ear. It had started a little while back, seemingly coming from behind the inventor. After turning around a few times without successfully locating the buzzing noise, Tony had decided to ignore it. However, the sound was a little clearer now. It was more of a humming sound, or a light thumping sound really. The sound was rapidly getting louder, and seemingly closer. A large shape blocked out the sun for only a few seconds, but it was long enough to let Tony know it was there. He looked up and into the sky, many feelings washing over him all at once when he sees the helicopter.

Tony's best friend, Rhodey, is already running to his side before the helicopter has even landed completely. Once again Tony's mind felt in a daze, but this time, he knew he would be safe where these new men were leading him. Rhodey said something, but Tony was too dazed to understand what. He smiled though, happy to finally be in the hands of someone he trusted.

*** STONY FOREVER ***

Tony started working long before his doctors advised when he should have. They didn't seem comfortable with the thought of him picking up some of his tools, such as his welding torch, in such a short time after getting back to the States. Well, Tony had robots that could do it for him, which he of course told his doctors. Besides, they didn't have to know that he was totally going to change the internal structure of his suit to correspond with his new arc reactor.

He wanted his Mark V suit to run off of his arc so that he could have more power for his repulsers. Tony would also have more room for weapons without the old, relatively bulky power cells that used to power his suit.

So far, his work was working out just fine. Scratch that, more than fine. Tony's new suit was sleeker, more stylish, Hell, it was even more comfortable than his old suit. More importantly though, the Mark V was safer for him to use, and was at least twice as deadly as the Mark IV.

*** STONY FOREVER ***

Tony hadn't been having much trouble with dreams about the cave and what went on in there. It was mostly because he just wasn't really sleeping anymore. Tony had woken up in the middle of the night covered in sweat with his voice hoarse from screaming.

Earlier that day, Tony had been able to test out his new suit in a relatively small fight. It had worked perfectly, but a few small mistakes had been made on Tony's account, seeing as he was not yet used to flying with the new modifications. Tony had been banged around slightly during the fight; giving him a massive headache by the time he had gotten home and gotten his suit off. He walked straight from the patio before promptly collapsing on one of the nearby couches.

By the time the other Avengers had walked into the room, the exhausted man was already asleep. Not wanting to wake the man up with their rowdiness, Steve picked up the smaller man and headed off towards Tony's bedroom.

Bruce and Natasha shared a look as they watched Steve walk away. They didn't mention anything when he returned minutes later, sans inventor, and instead turned to face the other two Avengers who were fighting over the TV remote.

Now, however, Tony wished that Steve had woken him up instead of taking him to his room. Tony slowly stood up, legs shaking slightly. He knew it wasn't real, that it was only a dream, but he couldn't get it out of his mind.

Deciding to take a shower, Tony walked into his conjoined master bathroom. Tony stripped down as the water was heating up before stepping under the hot spray. Flashes of his water torture flashed though his mind, and Tony once again began to tremble. He fell back against the wall of his shower, sliding down it and curling into a ball on the floor of his shower, hot tears streaming down his face.

*** STONY FOREVER ***

Two weeks had passed since that night, and Tony still woke up every night, always around three in the morning. Once his body had calmed down, Tony would walk to the kitchen and make a cup of his strongest coffee. Taking it downstairs to his lab, he would then spend the rest of the night working on something or another, just as long as it kept his mind off of the nightmares.

The rest of the team always just assumed that Tony woke up early to get to work. Steve, however, was the only one who seemed to notice how much more tired the inventor looked these days. Sure, it was pretty rare that Tony got enough sleep, but it was becoming clearer each day that the man was loosing more and more sleep each night.

One morning when Steve was getting ready for his early morning run, he heard a small explosion coming from the direction of Tony's lab. Another explosion sounded, then another, and another. Imagining only the worst, mostly someone trying to kidnap his fellow teammate, Steve took off in a run towards the lab.

Steve stopped and stared at the mess in front of him. Every glass window separating the stairs from the workshop had been shattered. Tony was standing in the middle of the workshop wearing an old black wife beater, dark jeans, and the Iron Man glove. Steve didn't dare move. It was obvious that Tony was upset about something. The emotions were clear on his face for once, showing how the man was seemingly in another world. His eyes were glassy, but trained on Steve as he was aiming his repulser at some horrible and unseen foe.

Steve moved slowly and cautiously towards the inventor. When he was close enough, he moved Tony's outstretched hand in the direction of the far wall where it could do no harm. The smaller man still looked confused and scared, but there was a slight recognition in his eyes that kept him from trying to hurt Steve. Knowing that the only thing that the genius needed at the moment was to be comforted, Steve carefully wrapped his teammate in a strong embrace.

Tony slowly wrapped his arms around the bigger man's waist, accepting the comforting gesture. '_I'm falling, _he thought. _I'm falling, and there's nothing to stop me. But sooner or later, I'm going to hit the pavement.'_

**A/N: Any thoughts? Please send me a review or any suggestions you may have. Thanks! -A**


	3. Black Out

**Disclaimer: I own squat.**

Chapter Three: Black Out

No one knew yet, even though Tony had been home for about two months. Of course the other Avengers had seen the modifications to the suit, but since the repulsers look just like the arc, no one though much of the new addition. Pepper had been busy running Stark Industries since she had been made CEO just after Tony's return, so he didn't see much of her these days.

_Pepper._ Tony sighed. He had once believed that the two of them could have lasted, that he had finally found someone that could put up with all of his shit. Apparently he hadn't. Their relationship, nicknamed 'Pepperony' by Clint, hadn't lasted long. Pepper broke up with Tony not long into their relationship, claiming that she couldn't handle the stress that accompanied his work life.

Basically, the only people that knew that Tony had a huge electromagnet in his chest were either dead, or Tony himself. Well, except for-

Tony shivered. There was no way in Hell he would let his thought stray to the Ten Rings. Almost all of those damned men had died during Tony's fiery escape, only a few cowards having the chance to run to safety in time. No one had been able to locate them so far, probably because those bastards were cowering for their lives in the crevices of some new cave located in that Hellhole.

"Sir, I would advise you get some rest."

Tony was startled out of his thoughts by the sound of his AI's voice. "What?" he responded confusedly.

"Sir, you have only slept a few hours in the past week. You stopped working a while ago, and instead have just been sitting there. I would advise you get some rest, sir, before this affects you greatly."

"Oh, I, um…" Tony thought for an excuse to avoid his nightmares. Tony was the only one who knew about them, even Jarvis didn't know. When constructing the Avengers tower, Tony had conveniently left cameras out of each bedroom and bathroom to make the others more comfortable. Tony remembered just whom he was trying to give an excuse to. "I'll sleep when I want to, Jarvis. Until then, don't bother me."

"But, sir-"

"Mute Jarvis."

*** STONY FOREVER ***

Tony wobbled uncertainly up the stairs to the upper levels of the tower. '_Once I have some caffeine in me, I'm finally going to fix the damn elevator,' _Tony thought as he tripped once again on the swaying stairs. His tired eyes were having trouble focusing on anything; everything was just a blurry mess.

Tony shivered, his thin wife beater not thick enough to trap in his body heat in a room with windows for the majority of the walls. Tony gazed, or tried his best to, out the windows. The sun was beginning to raise over the horizon, slowly lighting up the sky and reflecting over the towering, though small in comparison to his own, buildings surrounding the Avengers tower. He was being watched. It had been an odd sensation when he was first alone after coming home, knowing that there were no people, and no old security cameras following his every move. Now it felt as if he were back in that cave, that same feeling of being watched by people who only had bad intentions for him.

Tony shrugged off the feeling; he was safe inside the Avengers tower. This many stories up, with Tony's own brand of security, _plus _Jarvis; there was no way someone could break in without Tony knowing about it. Tony stumbled towards the kitchen only to remember that the kitchen had been hit during the big battle. It had only finished being renovated a few days ago, seeing as no one even noticed when they were busy trying to find Tony out in Afghanistan, though no one seemed motivated enough to restock it rather than continuing on with simply ordering take-out.

Tony walked out of the room and towards the bar. Pouring himself a glass of scotch Tony shuffled towards the living room set up across the large balcony room. Forgetting about those invisible eyes, Tony slumped onto the nearest couch, in view of the hallway in which the other Avengers will enter through as they wake up. Tony grabbed his tablet, deciding to draw up specs for his next project. This was easier that just building whatever while his mind drifted off before having to re-scrap another pet project.

Tony raised the glass to his lips, savoring the burn as the scotch made its way down his throat. The drink was soon gone, and Tony raised himself off the couch to refill his glass. As he stood, the blood rushed to Tony's head, and what felt like a light punch to his stomach made him pause his movements.

'_Damn it!' _Tony continued on his way over to the bar without any more distractions. He threw back the next glass in seconds, pausing to look at the empty glass. Shrugging, Tony placed the glass back onto the counter before picking up the entire tumbler of alcohol, collapsing onto the couch as he reached it.

Minutes passed, Hell, maybe even hours for all Tony knew. The specs on his tablet were only halfway finished, but Tony didn't feel like continuing. Tony's stomach was doing flips, a nauseated feeling spreading over him. It was getting too hot in the room and a light sheen of sweat was spreading over his body. His head was pounding, and Tony could swear his left arm was tensing up every so often without his command, along with the occasional twitch. Not to mention his chest.

Tony moaned painfully. His chest felt restricted, like an elephant was sitting on him. His lungs were working overtime to get air into his blood and to his brain, Tony already feeling lightheaded. His heart was racing, and he just felt like he couldn't _breathe!_ Tony's vision was blurring, the room was spinning, and he felt like he was going to be sick all over the couch. He started falling forwards, everything moving in slow motion.

The glass coffee table was fast approaching Tony's pained body. Tony closed his eyes just before his head hit the edge of the table, pushing him sideways onto the floor. He groaned as his back landed hard on the wooden floor, pain shooting up his spine and making his headache hurt even more. Tony knew he was going to have bruises all over his back from the fall, but that wasn't his main concern right now.

The edges of Tony's vision were greying out, and quickly fading to black. His only thoughts were that he hoped someone found him soon, and figured out what the Hell had happened to him.

**A/N: Any thoughts? Please send me a review or any suggestions you may have. Thanks! -A**


	4. Oh Shit

**Disclaimer: I own squat.**

**Yet again, this is not a story for younger and/or immature people. Don't like dark stories or male/male slash then don't read.**

**Be forewarned, this chapter will have more drama and will have a torture flashback…**

Chapter Four: Oh Shit

Steve let out a deep breath, turning over and slamming his hand down on his alarm clock. '_Time to get up,'_ He thought to himself. Even after being frozen for seventy years, Steve still kept up with his old military routines. Every morning he would wake up at five a.m., get dressed, and take a few mile jog around the city. Then, Steve would always come home, take a shower, and eat a breakfast big enough for multiple average sized human men.

Steve pushed the covers off his body and walked over to his closet. He changed into his normal jogging outfit, the same uniform that military personnel used to work out in. After brushing his teeth and combing his hair, Steve quickly made his bed before putting on his running shoes.

Steve walked quietly out into the hallway, careful not to wake anyone up. Something didn't seem right. Steve stopped and listened, noticing the lack of the noises coming from the lab downstairs. The others could never hear the sounds of Tony's welding or whatever he was doing, but Steve could pick up on a few of the louder sounds.

Steve's brows furrowed. For almost the past two months, each time Steve had woken up for his morning run he had been able to hear Tony doing something down in the lab. '_Maybe he's finally getting some sleep.'_

Steve continued on down the hallway. He entered the living room and continued on into the hallway that led towards the elevators. '_Hold on a second.'_ Steve turned back to face the living room, stopping in his tracks upon seeing an unmoving lump on the floor.

'_Oh, Tony.' _Steve gave a wry grin. Of all the places that crazy inventor had to fall asleep, of course it was in the floor _next to _the couch. Steve walked over to the inventor, couching next to the limp figure. Steve reached a hand forward and brushed some of Tony's hair out of his face.

'_What?' _Tony's face was twisted into a grimace. It was then that Steve also noticed the little bit of blood on his head. Steve's hand flinched back towards his body reflexively, memories of the war flashing through his mind as he stared at the prone body in front of him.

"Oh shit."

*** STONY FOREVER ***

Tony struggled for breath as his head was doused in water once again. He was laying on some old bedsprings that dug into his back, his head hanging off the end. He had been confused when a towel had been placed over his head, but quickly understood as water was poured over his head.

As soon as the dirty water soaked into the old rag it was instantly plastered to his face. With no way of removing the towel, Tony couldn't breathe in. When the water mercifully stopped pouring, Tony was able to draw in a few shallow breaths. It started again. Time after time, for what felt like hours, the water continued to pour over Tony's head, filling his nose and mouth and cutting off all oxygen.

Was this how he was going to go? The great Tony Stark, drowning in the middle of the desert on some old bedsprings with an old rag and water that was probably growing something in it.

Just as Tony's thoughts were slowing and his body was slowly giving up on him, the water stopped altogether. The rag was pulled off his face by a smirking man, who then untied Tony's wrists and ankles. They knew he was too weak to fight them, let alone to stand.

One of the men grabbed Tony's wrists, pulling his off the bedsprings and letting him drop to the floor. The man dragged Tony out of the torture room and towards the room he shared with Yinsen. Tony's eyes traced the marks in the ceiling as they went, ignoring the tears falling down his face. The man turned while he walked and laughed at Tony, spitting on the man below him. Tony's angered thoughts ceased as the darkness claimed him and he fell unconscious.

*** STONY FOREVER ***

Bruce woke up to Steve screaming his name. '_Screaming? What the Hell?' _Bruce jumped out of bed and ran out of his room, clad only in his sleeping pants. He could feel his muscles start to strain, and a streak of green was visible where his eyes should have been as he ran past a hallway mirror.

Bruce stopped dead when he entered the living room, the regularly tan color of his skin paling. Steve was sitting on the floor holding an unmoving Tony. Bruce rushed to the pair, quickly asking Steve what had happened.

"I- I don't know!" Steve panicked. "I walked through here when I was going out for a jog. He- he was just lying here. I thought maybe he had fallen asleep, but he wasn't really moving. I think he fell and hit his head. There's blood, but it's dried so he must have been here for a while."

Bruce turned Tony's head towards Steve to inspect the head wound. '_He probably got hurt a while ago and lost consciousness. Stupid, stupid, Tony.' _Bruce turned the injured man's head towards himself, noticing the pale pallor of his face.

Bruce put two fingers on Tony's wrist. Nothing. He tried again on Tony's neck. He still couldn't find a heartbeat, though he was hopping it was only too faint for him to find. "Was he breathing or moving at all when you came in, Steve?"

"Yeah, he was. He's only just barely breathing now though." Bruce placed his hand over Tony's mouth, wanting to jump for joy when he felt the ward air caress his hand. Bruce felt something similar to bubbles touch his hand just before Tony's body began shaking violently. White foam was slowly oozing out between Tony's lips before it trailed down his chin.

"Keep his head still, but make sure you let it move slightly so the thrashing doesn't snap his neck!"

Steve looked petrified as he placed his hands on either side of his friend's head. Tony's thrashing became more violent and Bruce quickly went to secure his flailing appendages. Tony's back arched off the floor, arms and legs moving in every direction and his eyelids flickering. Steve leaned over so he could put Tony into a loose headlock, using his now free arm to pin the man's torso to the ground.

Seconds after Tony started seizing, his body fell slack against the floor. Bruce and Steve watched in horror as Tony's eyes rolled back in his head, and the man was completely still.

**A/N: Any thoughts? Please send me a review or any suggestions you may have. Thanks! -A**


	5. Alive

**Disclaimer: I own squat.**

**In case it is wrong, I had to Google the cyanide info. Not sure if it actually causes seizures, but they're dramatic, so…**

Chapter Five: Alive

Steve's flashbacks flew in front of his eyes in the few seconds it took Bruce to react. Steve still couldn't help thinking how much Tony currently looked like the man from the docks all those years ago.

"Bruce, I think Tony was poisoned," Steve said gravely.

"What?" Bruce stared at Steve.

"Just after I got the super serum, there was an explosion in the lab cause by a German. When I finally caught him, he committed suicide with a cyanide pill. This is just like what happened with that man, so I believe Tony was poisoned."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"I need to know if you are absolutely sure about this Steve. If I give Tony the wrong chemicals then Tony will die and there will be nothing more for us to do."

"I'm sure, Bruce."

"Alright. We need to start his heart, and then we can worry about getting whatever he ingested out of Tony's system. I will start CPR, but I need you to get my medical bag off the desk in my room as fast as you can."

Steve was running before Bruce had finished speaking. He knew what he had to do. Steve needed to save his friend and teammate. Scratch that. As of late, Tony had become more like a best friend to Steve.

*** STONY FOREVER ***

After the whole Chitauri incident, Tony had been devoting much of his time to get the Cap up to speed on everything he had missed during his Cap nap. Tony had been dragging Steve with him across the US with him whenever he had important meetings to go to that he couldn't miss. Steve would remind Tony of the meeting with enough time for them to arrange a flight to wherever, he would make sure Tony did not get drunk the night before the meeting, and he would provide entertainment throughout the meeting when Tony didn't want to listen to those greedy bastards talk about stuff that Steve had no idea what they were talking about. Once the meetings were over, Tony would get Steve and himself out of the building as fast as possible and into whatever fast car he had at his disposable. The two would go to museums, theaters that were playing classic old movies, plays, and even just to the major tourist spots.

At first, Tony had only been doing this as a favor to Steve, and, well, who wouldn't want to spend a little time with their childhood hero. But then, Tony had begun to realize how much he was enjoying himself on these little excursions with Steve. They began to do much the same activities even when Tony didn't have meetings. Either they would fly somewhere not too far off in Tony's private plane, or the pair would sometimes hang out a little closer to home. Even though Tony had always lived in the same area growing up, Steve had been surprised to find the man had never even gone to see the Statue of Liberty.

'_We… we didn't do things like that. Things that other families always did together, my father just never had the time for it. Hell, he just never had the time for me.' _That had been Tony's excuse. It wouldn't do, of course. That same afternoon, Steve had dragged Tony around New York and the surrounding areas to see some of the bigger attractions that were nearby.

Rainy days often found Tony down in his workshop, tinkering away at some project or another. Steve would always be close by, sketchbook in hand. Steve usually drew Tony as he worked, what he saw through a small window on the far wall, or memories he had of friends and soldiers from the forties. Tony always made sure the lab was never silent, either talking to himself as he worked, or trying, and failing, to explain to Steve about the complicated engineering and designing he was doing. Steve never understood a word of what Tony said, but at least it always proved to amuse the genius on how little Steve knew on the subjects in which Tony absolutely excelled.

It all changed when Tony was kidnapped. Steve hadn't been able to hide his worry and impatience of finding Tony. Each night Tony was gone, Steve lay in his bed in complete darkness, sleep replaced by horrifying images of what could be happening to his friend at the very same moment.

When Tony had finally been rescued, he had been a ghost of his former self. When Steve had first come into the same room as the man, he had immediately gone to embrace his rescued friend. Tony had, of course, known that Steve would never intentionally harm him, but as he was unused to human contact that did not involve torture, his body had tensed as soon as Steve had touched him. Tony had had to repress the urge to strike out at Steve, and he was sure that the taller man had seen it in his eyes.

Even when Steve had backed up a few feet though, Tony still looked like a deer caught in headlights. As Tony had left the others that night, presumably to sleep, Steve had wondered over and collapsed onto one of the couches. Natasha and Clint both showed almost no emotions, though Steve knew that the pair was worried about their teammate. Bruce looked worn out, his thumb and forefinger pinching the bridge of his nose. Thor looked a lot like a kicked puppy. The god hadn't hesitated to give Tony a hug such as the Cap had, and Tony had almost had a panic attack right there on the spot because of it. Things such as these just didn't happen on Asgard, so Thor had no idea how to act around Tony.

And Steve… Well, Steve just looked worn out; the tense afternoon had left him emotionally drained. Without Tony, Steve had no real anchor to this time. Sure, Steve had been at first curious to see how much the son of his late friend acted like his father, but as Steve had gotten to know Tony better, he had bonded with the smaller man quickly.

*** STONY FOREVER ***

Steve ran back into the room to see Bruce pushing on Tony's chest rhythmically. "I'm not going to make this easy on you. Come on, come on. I know you can hear me you selfish bastard! Come on!" Bruce chanted as he pushed down harder and harder on Tony's chest. Steve almost ripped the bag in half as he opened it quickly, moving it closer to Bruce so the doctor could retrieve whatever it was he needed to save Tony's life. Steve scooted over slightly also, picking up Tony's head and placing it in his lap. He carefully cradled the man's head, trying not to jostle him too much as if he were merely asleep.

Bruce reached into the small black bag, pulling out a very large needle and a small glass bottle containing a few ounces of an unknown liquid. Bruce quickly and efficiently took the tip off of the needle, pushing it through the waxy cover of the bottle and pulling the liquid into the syringe. He let go of it, the syringe staying straight up in the waxy substance. Bruce placed his hands over Tony, grabbing hold of his shirt and ripping it open to reveal the smaller man's chest.

"What is that?" Steve asked, alarmed. The two men stared at the strange metal object that seemed to be a part of their friend.

A circular piece of metal lay on the unmoving chest. It looked somewhat like a flashlight with the way the inside looked and how it had a protective piece of glass on the end of the chamber. However, the thing on Tony's chest wasn't lit up like a flashlight would be.

"Who the Hell knows." Bruce replied. He had no idea what the object was, or how it would react to everything that keeps getting put into Tony's body. Without wasting anymore time, Bruce picked the syringe up and pulled the bottle off the end, exposing the long and sharp point of the needle.

He angled himself around Tony slightly, trying to get a better angle. In order for Bruce to be able to help Tony at all, he needed to be able to push the syringe straight into Tony's heart so he may be injected. However, the strange object was resting right above where Tony's heart is, so Bruce was having a hard time figuring out where he should place the needle. Bruce moved the syringe close to Tony's chest, pulled his arm back, then rammed the needle through his skin. Bruce pushed down on the end of the needle, emptying out the syringe completely before pulling it out.

Tony's eyes almost immediately flew open. His chest was moving quickly with his rapid breaths, his eyes were wide, and his mouth was slightly agape. '_But more than that, he's _alive.'

**A/N: Any thoughts? Please send me a review or any suggestions you may have. Thanks! -A**


	6. Jumpstarts and Satanic Ponies

**Disclaimer: I own squat.**

Chapter Six: Jumpstarts and Satanic Ponies

Tony yells while scrambling to get up. Steve watches as the frantic man runs right into the wall next to the couch. Tony turns, confused, and stares at Steve.

"I had a terrible dream. You, Bruce, Thor, and I were in a restaurant. That satanic pony was there as well, a massive fork in his hoof and he turned on me!"

Tony's eyes were wide, his voice rising with each word, and his chest was moving quickly with each pant. Tony turned to look at Bruce now.

"What have you administered?" Tony paused for a minute, the continued speaking. "We need to sell that shit on eBay."

"I only have one." Bruce gave a lopsided grin.

"Who's been dancing on my chest?"

"Me."

"What happened?"

"Well," Steve stood from his place on the ground, "you were poisoned."

"What?" Steve's words didn't seem to compute in Tony's racing mind.

"Sit down. Drink this." Bruce commanded. Tony flopped down onto the couch, sprawling all over it. Tony drank from the small bottle Bruce gave him, noticing how his heart rate calmed drastically as soon as he did.

"Did you call me a selfish bastard?" Tony asked, pointing a questioning finger in Bruce's direction.

"Probably."

"Poisoned, you said?"

"Yes, and we need to get the poison from your system, so we are taking you to the hospital." Steve said, crossing his arms.

"What? No. No, no, no, absolutely not."

"Tony, you were _poisoned_. I would still make Steve go if it had been him who had been poisoned. Now, we at least need to get it out of your system if we're going to stay here. Drink this, then, if you're going to be a stubborn bastard."

"Yes, I am." Tony said, grabbing the second vial from Bruce. "Odd color. What is this for?"

"It's to make you throw up the poison."

"Eww, no way. I'm not doing that." Tony tossed the vial back at Bruce.

Bruce sighed, giving a look to the Cap. Steve walked over to Tony, holding him down before the smaller man even knew what was going on. Bruce stood, taking the top off of the vial, and approached Tony as he spoke.

"Just leave it in. I feel fine. Leave it i-!" Tony was cut off as Bruce manually opened Tony's mouth wide enough to pour the liquid into his mouth. "You are a… Oh you are some sort of a-"

"Be nice," Steve cut Tony off. Tony sighed, grumbling a little to himself.

Tony twitched suddenly a moment later. His body jerked as he threw himself into a standing position and ran out of the room. Bruce seemed content that he had finished his work, but Steve couldn't leave Tony to himself just yet. Steve jogged towards Tony's room after the man.

*** STONY FOREVER ***

Tony's arms somewhat hugged the cool porcelain of the toilet he was currently throwing up into. He leaned back, closing his eyes as he rested his head against the wall next to him. Tony heard footsteps walk through the open doorway, but he didn't look up.

The tap water in the sink ran for a few moments, and then a wringing sound filled the quiet bathroom. Tony sighed happily as the wet washcloth was placed on the back of his burning hot neck. He didn't move as the washcloth wandered over his forehead, then down to wipe off his mouth.

Tony jerked forwards, and once again he wretched into the bowl. The two men waited until Tony stopped dry heaving, his muscles sore from forcing all of the contents out of his stomach. He heard a sigh behind him, then "Ain't this a bitch?"

Tony chuckled, Steve hardly ever swore. "A cold hard one." He turned to face the soldier, patting the side of the toilet to emphasize his words.

"Have I ever told you the story of when Bucky dragged me to Coney Island and made my ride the Cyclone?"

"No," Tony replied. "But I want to now that you've brought it up."

"Well, one Saturday, Bucky came running into my house. He didn't even bother knocking or greeting my mom, bet she was used to it by then. He almost broke my door trying to get it open he was so excited…"

*** STONY FOREVER ***

Steve's sides hurt as he laughed. He looked over to Tony, almost doubled over with laughter, head resting a few inches in that air above the tiled floor. Steve's laughter slowed, a few chuckles still escaping his lips. Tony was now sitting upright, laughing as hard as ever, but something was off. Tony's shoulders were starting to shake harder than what was normal for regular laughter. His laugh was becoming strained, and quickly turned into chocked sobs.

Tony fell over against the super soldier's firm frame, tears leaking out of his eyes and soaking into the larger man's shirt. Steve lifted Tony slightly, setting him down in his lap. Steve's arms gently encased the sobbing man, rubbing his back gently and whispering soothing words to him. Tony's face was pressed into the blonde's shoulder, his arms wrapped around the larger man's neck tightly.

The only sounds in the small room for the next few minutes were of the genius's sobs and the Cap's soft murmurings. "I told Rhodey to ride in the other Humvee. I wish I had stayed with him."

*** STONY FOREVER ***

Tony is lying flat on his back, aware of a long band crossing just under his neck, holding him to whatever he was laying on. A sheet covers his lower half, and something similar to one of those metal trays doctors used to put pieces of anatomy into is resting on his lower stomach, though it seemed to get slightly heavier every so often. The room is mostly dark, save for one bright light overhead. On Tony's right, two men are standing next to a table with various instruments and chemicals, annoyed and slightly horrified looks on their faces. On his left, a man with bloodied gloves sways ominously above him, thought Tony suspects the man actually wasn't moving all that much.

Then the pain hit. Tony had thought it was bad enough getting banged around in his suit during a big fight, or the hangover when he tried to beat Thor at drinking mead. But this, this was Hell. This was someone ripping open his chest with literal saws in an unsterile room while they rummaged around and moved things that were supposed to stay put. Tony wanted to turn and gag when he saw what he believed to be part of his ribs being removed from his chest cavity, but the pain was too overwhelming to move. A cold piece of metal touching his insides only added to the burning, rather than cooling it down.

Tony thrashed his head, yelling at the top of his lungs. No matter what he did, these people just would _not _leave him in peace to... To die. Yes, that sounded quite nice right now. Death would be peaceful and quiet, unlike the harsh sounds of this foreign tongue, that horrible sawing noise, and then the metallic clank that always followed. A cloth was pressed over the bottom of Tony's face, a strange scent filling his nose. Tony's body calmed and stilled, and everything went black.

*** STONY FOREVER ***

"I've seen many wounds like that in my village." Tony held the bottle up to the light himself to inspect the small barbs, thinking of how many more of these razor sharp pieces of metal were trying to tear their way through his veins so they could shred his heart.

"We call them the walking dead, because it takes about a week for the barbs to reach the vital organs," the man continued.

"What is this?" Tony asked, referring to the metal in his chest.

"That is an electromagnet, hooked up to a car battery, and it's keeping the shrapnel from entering your heart." The man sounded pleased with himself.

'_He would get along _great_ with Steve,'_ Tony thought. '_The two of them, sitting there together with their stupidly optimistic outlook on the horrible things around them. But there's always something hidden behind that happiness. Always that casual leather jacket when everyone else is wearing short-sleeved tees, or that unconscious flinch the one time Tony had been with Steve when the man passed by Tony's indoors pool. Of course, the pool _had _been taken out that very afternoon and was replaced with a convenient gym that everyone wandered to every so often, including to watch his and Clint's 'Fight to the Deaths'... with remote controlled toy trucks of course...'_

**A/N: Any thoughts? Please send me a review or any suggestions you may have. Thanks! -A**


	7. Overkill in Underrated

**Disclaimer: I own squat.**

Chapter Seven: Overkill in Underrated

Tony's head was held under the water, a strong hand fisted in his hair, and many others holding his neck, shoulders, and arms. Tony flailed, trying desperately to bring his face out of the water so he may breathe. The wires from his chest sent sparks through the water, burning his face and eyes with their fire like touch.

Tony's head was pulled viciously backwards, the many hands shifting to keep him from collapsing. He spat out the water from his mouth, gasping in air. Before he could catch his breath, Tony's head was shoved back under the water. His mouth and nose filled, and the wires once again began to send shocks through the water.

A muffled yelling penetrated the water somewhat muffled, and Tony was quickly pulled from the water. The hands let him go, and Tony dropped to the floor like a sack of potatoes. A man, still breathing hard from running down the long corridor, was finishing a short conversation with the man who seemed to be in charge of this rag tag group of idiots.

The leader turned to Tony, his words slipping into a strangely accented English. "Yinsen has warned us that wetting your chest can both electrocute you and short out your battery, both resulting in no weapons being produced," the man growled out.

Tony let out a sigh, glad that his torture seemed to be over.

"However," the man continued, "that does not mean we do not have other ways, much similar to the one you just experienced, in which we could convince you to work for us. Come," the man gestured to those around Tony, their hands quickly grabbing and pulling him once along once again.

The men threw Tony down on some old bedsprings in the corner of the room, leaving his head to dangle off the end. They worked quickly to tie his hands, feet, and torso down to the metal digging at his back. A thick mound of cloth was placed protectively over his electromagnet, with an old rag following suit over Tony's face. Then, the torture began anew.

*** STONY FOREVER ***

Steve couldn't believe what Tony was telling him. When Steve had learned of his friend's son, Steve had been excited. He had thought that he could still have a relationship with someone exactly like he did before the ice, and that maybe he could pretend he hadn't lost _everyone _he ever knew. But no, there was no doubt in his mind that Tony always has been, and always will be his own person.

Steve had seen what had happened to soldiers back in the war who went through torture. Many became so messed up in the head that they could never interact with another person again without trying to do something dangerous to the people, or to themselves. A few of the men had also become reckless when fighting in the war, abandoning all sense of self-preservation as they ran straight into the line of fire.

But Tony, Tony was different than every man Steve had ever met. Tony is selfless, generous, and kind in his own, sometimes odd, way. He isn't always comfortable with sharing or expressing his feelings, but his large brown eyes always show everything he is feeling, you just have to look hard enough.

Steve had been told to be careful around Tony a short while before he had even met the man. He had been told that Tony had gone through some horrible experiences as a child, and that he was probably still very unstable because of them. His therapist had given up on the man only a few days into their daily sessions, refusing to work with such an "infuriatingly stubborn ass of a man."

After being able to get as close to Tony as he had since he began working with the man, Steve had learned that many of Tony's offensive words and actions were simply a defense mechanism, and that, in reality, Tony felt hopelessly alone. He hadn't felt comfortable talking to a complete stranger about his time in Afghanistan, about the torture and death he held in his memories of that horrible place.

Only after long periods without sleep to the point Tony couldn't help but loosen up, or after drinking probably more than Steve should have let him would Tony choose to open up and talk about something painful. Even then, Tony had still kept many things a secret from the rest of the world.

Nothing could have prepared Steve to hear everything so unexpectedly, but right now, nothing mattered more to him than the genius, still sitting in Steve's lap while he held him to his chest tightly. Tony remained quiet after he finished telling Steve anything and everything he had kept bottled up inside since he returned. The two men continued to sit in the small room until Tony's breathing evened out, and the physically and emotionally exhausted man fell asleep against the Cap.

Steve carefully picked up the smaller man bridle style, and carried his out of the adjoining bathroom. With one hand, Steve pulled the covers back on Tony's large bed before laying the man himself down. Steve pulled the covers up and over Tony's body, letting them rest just below the arc, acting as the only source of light in the room. Looking at the now much more peaceful man as he slept, Steve couldn't help the small smile tugging at his lips. Even though he had just learned every dark secret this man had ever kept about his kidnapping, Steve couldn't help but be happy with how serene Tony's face looked as he slept. Steve leaned down and placed a gently kiss on Tony's forehead. As he turned to head to his own room, a sleepy voice stopped him.

"Stay... please?" the last part broke Steve's heart. In that moment, the still half asleep man had managed to ask his to stay in the most pitiful yet hopeful voice Steve had ever heard. Steve walked to the other side of the bed, shedding his shoes and crawling under the covers.

Steve was surprised when Tony scooted to his right until he was curled up against the super soldier, fitting his head just under Steve's chin. Steve hesitantly draped his right arm over the smaller man, his actions radiating just how unsure he was of what is acceptable or not. Tony simply grabbed onto his hand, letting Steve's palm rest over the glowing arc, and Tony holding onto Steve's arm like a teddy bear. Steve smiled and pressed a kiss to the back of Tony's head as the man lost his fight with unconsciousness. Lying there, Steve was happier than he had been since he had woken up from the ice. Closing his eyes, Steve followed Tony into unconsciousness, the smile that graced his lips never once faltering.

*** STONY FOREVER ***

Tony blasted his repulser at the robot he was fighting. The thing was about six feet tall and looked somewhat like a man. It was wearing an all blue suit like thing to protect its circuitry, and had glowing yellow eyes.

Before the robot could stand itself back up, Tony hit it over and over again with his repulsers. The continuous flashes from Tony's repulsers were starting to melt the bot who still couldn't get up from its spot on the ground. Its creepy yellow eyes were melting and dripping down its now deformed face. The chest cavity had collapsed, and the legs were misshapen.

Tony didn't see any of it. All he saw was horror. Horror and pity. The night he'd been poisoned, died, and brought back to life, Tony had opened up. Now he regretted being so week, but yet, Tony was kind of happy about it. That night, sitting close to Steve in that small room, Tony had fallen apart.

Tony had finally looked up into Steve's eyes after he had finished the story. Steve had looked horrified. Tony knew, though. He knew that no one could have heard his story and not feel pity. Tony didn't want pity though, he _hated_ pity.

Tony shot off one last blast at the unrecognizably melted lump of metal as he heard someone approaching.

"Overkill much?" Steve joked, knowing the other man was upset.

"Overkill is underrated," the man replied curtly. He couldn't even look the Cap straight in the eyes right now.

"Come on, we have to meet with Fury on the Helicarrier."

*** STONY FOREVER ***

The team was sitting in the meeting room, still fresh from their fight, and all waiting on Fury.

"The damn bastard calls us up and he can't even be bothered to show himself," Tony grumbles, pulling a tablet seemingly out of thin air. Tony Stark never watches TV, sans the occasional news report. He does, however, like to watch people do interesting things with stuff Fury won't allow him to touch in fear of Tony blowing up the Helicarrier.

The image flickered on, revealing a weapons testing facility back down on the ground. The man in focus is, of course, the one and only Agent Phil Coulson. Apparently sometime during Tony's kidnapping, Director Fury decided that it would be a good idea to let the team know that they've only misplaced one of their teammates, rather than having them continue to believe that two of their teammates were misplaced and dead.

**A/N: Any thoughts? Please send me a review or any suggestions you may have. Thanks! -A**


	8. Kill Joys and Clean Slates

**Disclaimer: I own squat.**

Chapter Eight: Kill Joys and Clean Slates

Tony stepped off of the Quinjet, not at all surprised to see who the man waiting for him was. He had been home for all of a week before Fury had demanded he came and gave his statement on the events in Afghanistan. Something had always seemed pretty sketchy to Tony about the Agent's death, and lo and behold, he was right. Tony walked calmly to the undead man, staring him straight in the eyes as he shook his hand.

"Glad to have you back, Phil," Tony said quietly, making sure to use the man's real name instead of just agent.

"Not sure _I_ am considering I'm your official handler now, Stark," Coulson smirked. He turned and walked towards the door, throwing an "Oh, and just so you know, I will still keep my taser on me at all times" over his shoulder as he left. Tony shivered dramatically, though he made a mental note to remember that for further references.

*** STONY FOREVER ***

Currently, however, Coulson was holding a relatively normal looking gun besides the bright orange design on the side. Tony remembered Fury telling him that he wasn't allowed to touch anything with an bright marking on the side of it because they were warnings for beyond dangerous weapons.

Just like Tony though, Coulson couldn't figure why this average sized gun had a higher warning color than the one he had used on Loki. "Seems harmless enough. Hard to see what all the fuss is about," he murmured, taking aim.

Coulson pulled the trigger. A bright, colorful light shot out of the barrel of the gun, wiping out every single target on the back wall while simultaneously pushing Coulson backwards against the padded wall. "Write that down," Coulson commands a nearby low ranking agent.

Tony chuckled at the man just as Fury walked in. He glared at Tony until the man put the tablet away with a roll of his eyes. _'Kill joy.'_

*** STONY FOREVER ***

"Mr. Stark?"

Tony turned to look at Steve from his seat on the couch. It had been about two days since the big alien attack. Tony had announced during Shawarma that his tower was open to anyone who wanted a place to stay. Bruce and Steve had hesitantly agreed to move in, though Tony hadn't seen much of either of the two since then. Clint and Natasha had headed back to SHIELD headquarters for some kind of secret spy mission things that Tony hadn't bothered to try to figure out and no one had seen Thor since his return back to Asgard.

"Mr. Stark was my father. Please, call me Tony," Tony reached out and shook Steve's hand.

"Mr. S- Tony. I- I just wanted to say that I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what?" Tony gave a half assed version of a confused face.

Steve sighed. "For what I said on the Helicarrier, for the way I've acted towards you... for everything, really."

Tony looked at the man, not expecting what he was hearing. "Well, you're forgiven." Tony looked around the room, a bit uncomfortable.

Steve looked like he was about to protest, so Tony interjected. "Look, why don't we just start over. Clean slate?" Steve nodded.

Tony grinned and held out his hand once more. "Hey, I'm Tony."

"Steve," he shook the Tony's hand. Tony moved his hand so it was wrapped around the man's wrist, promptly dragging them away.

"Come on, I'll show you where you'll be staying. Well, you've been here for two days, so I guess you kind of know that. Well, I'll give you a full tour of the tower, then."

*** STONY FOREVER ***

"And this is my lab," Tony concluded, gesturing largely to emphasize that this was _obviously_ the coolest room in the tower. Maybe it was, but Tony didn't have to know that.

Steve took his time looking at everything in the room. He looked at each sports car, each little trinket on almost every visible surface, and each suit. He jumped when one of the things he believed to be an unfinished trinket moved. A metal arm rose towards him, metal claw moving as if to shake his hand.

"That's Dummy," Steve looked over his shoulder at the amused genius. "That one over there is You," Steve looked across the room where Tony pointed. His head whipped back around at the sound of a metallic clang, taking note of a wrench lying on the floor in front of another robot. "And that one's Butterfingers."

Steve nodded, looking back to Dummy as he gently prodded his hand with it's claw. Steve tentatively took hold, a small grin forming on his face when the smart little bot shook his hand. Steve looked to Tony; almost unable to believe the man had made something so amazing. Tony stood a few feet away, looking proudly at his oldest bot.

The two men glanced to the far wall as the sound of approaching footsteps were heard. Bruce punched in his key code before opening the door and walking into the lab. He glanced at Steve before shifting his gaze to Tony, "Just wanted to make sure you haven't already broken your new friend yet," he said.

Tony gave him an exasperated look. "Oh come on. I _purposefully_ make things explode. I'm not going to make my new friend explode," Tony replied. "Yet," he murmured quietly a moment later.

Steve looked between the other men, unsure just what he was missing. Bruce's gaze slowly shifted to Tony, and as soon as the other man made eye contact, the pair erupted into laughter.

*** STONY FOREVER ***

A week later, Steve dragged his feet up the stairs late at night. As he had worked out vigorously for the past few hours, his thought had not strayed from his favorite genius. He had gone through about twice as many punching bags as usual, and he was physically exhausted for once.

Even before Tony had completely opened up to him, Steve's feelings had been getting confusing when regarding Tony. Steve had started to really like spending time with the man, and it hurt Steve more and more each time he saw Tony in any sort of pain.

Steve had only just admitted to himself that he liked Tony just before his kidnapping. Admitting to himself that he liked Tony had been hard for Steve considering the time Steve had grown up in. Suddenly, Steve also had to deal with the pain that hit him hard each time he thought of Tony off in some Hellhole with God knows what being done to him.

When Tony had finally been found and brought home, Steve had been overjoyed. Though his heart had broken upon seeing the way Tony had reacted to his fellow Avengers, Steve had sworn to himself that from then on, he would always help Tony, even if he had to give him his life in order to help the man he's been falling for.

*** STONY FOREVER ***

Two weeks later, Steve, Bruce, and Clint were sitting together in the living room as they watched a random movie currently playing on the television. Clint was sitting across the coffee table from Steve, and Bruce was sitting across the table from the TV.

"Doctor Banner, sir, there is a call for you" JARVIS muted the TV before speaking.

"Um, alright," Bruce answered.

"Bruce, uh, how big are your hands" Tony's voice came over the speaker.

"What?" Bruce looked at the other two men in the room confused, the slightest bit of blush coloring his cheeks.

"How big are your hands?" Tony repeated himself.

"I don't understand why..." Bruce trailed off.

"Get down here, I need you."

The line cut out, and Bruce continued to sit for a moment, staring at the ceiling in the general direction of the speaker. Bruce shook his head slightly before standing and walking towards the elevator.

**A/N: Any thoughts? Please send me a review or any suggestions you may have. Thanks! -A**


	9. Don't put it back in!

**Disclaimer: I own squat.**

Chapter Nine: "Don't put it back in!"

Bruce entered his code into the keypad just outside the door to Tony's lab. Walking in, he noticed the shirtless genius lying back in a chair that made him think of the dentist, monitoring wires running from his chest to a few portable machines behind him.

"Hey," he greeted Bruce, twisting the brighter glowing arc in his hand.

"Let's see them, show me your hands."

When Bruce was still too confused to do what was asked, Tony repeated, "let me see them," accompanied with a hand gesture of raising his own hand not currently occupied with the new arc.

Bruce raised his hands for Tony to inspect, before the man muttered "Oh wow, they are small... very petite..." he trailed off. It was probably the most awkward anyone had ever seen the great Tony Stark act.

"I just, uh, I need your help for a sec," Tony glanced at the arc in his hand.

"Tony... What the Hell is that thing?"

"Before I was captured, I got a chest full of shrapnel from one of my very own bombs. Most of them were taken out, but not all of them could be safely reached. Yins-" Tony cleared his throat. "Yinsen put an electromagnet into my chest to keep the rest of the shrapnel from reaching my heart and tearing it to pieces."

Tony shook the old arc. "This _was _the thing that was keeping me alive. It is now an antique. _This_" Tony gestured to the arc in his hand, "is what will be keeping me alive for the foreseeable future. I'm swapping it out for an upgrade. I just ran into a little speed bump."

"Speed bump? What do you- what does that mean?" Bruce asked as Tony's hand moved to his current arc and started twisting it.

"Nothing, its just a little snag. There's an exposed wire under this device and its contacting the socket wall and its causing a little bit of a shortage," with this, Tony finished pulling the arc from his chest. Tony handed the arc to Bruce, who was unsure where to hold such a delicate piece of machinery.

"I just want you to reach in and you're just going to gently lift the wire out."

"Is it safe?"

"Yeah, its fine. Its just like Operation, you don't let it touch the socket wall," Tony gestured to the according piece of metal.

"What is- what do you mean 'Operation'?"

"Nothing, its just a game," Tony said, not bothering to explain himself. "Just gently lift the wire, okay?"

Bruce nodded. He pushed back the sleeves of his shirt up to his elbows and reached his hand slowly into Tony's chest cavity.

"The copper wire," Tony said simply after Bruce had let his hand slowly sink deeper in Tony's chest.

"You got it?" Tony asked calmly.

"I got it," was his almost breathless reply.

"Now, don't let it touch- Ahh!" Tony yelled as his reminder turned into a shocked gasp.

"Okay, now. Make sure when you pull it out, you don't pull out the," Tony's words were cut short as Bruce's hand pulled the end of the wire out, along with the attached piece of metal.

"You just pulled out the-"

"Okay, okay-"

"Don't put it back in!" Tony exclaimed as Bruce made a move to place the wire back where it was.

"What do I do? What do I do?" Bruce asked, turning and placing the wire on a nearby desk. "What's wrong?"

"Ah, nothing. I'm just going into cardiac arrest because you _yanked it out_," Tony said in reference to the wire on the table.

"What? I thought you said this was safe?" Bruce exclaimed, his calm doctor voice being replaced by that of a very worried man.

"We've got to hurry, we've got to switch it out."

Bruce picked up Tony's new arc, one hand holding the main piece and his other ready to attach it to Tony. "Okay, you're going to attach that to the base plate, and make sure you..." Tony's instructions trailed off.

Bruce's face twisted in concentration as he attached the wire to the directed location, surprised when the other man let out another shocked yell.

"Was that so hard? That was fun, right?" the man asked jokingly as Bruce panted, the adrenalin quickly leaving his system and leaving him drained.

"I got it," he continued, pushing Bruce's inexperienced hands away and securing the arc himself.

Bruce simply stood there; hands held out a little ways from his body, and his mouth hanging slightly open.

"Are you okay?" Bruce whispered.

"Yeah, I feel great."

Bruce sighed, lowering his hands just a bit.

"Are you okay?" Tony asked, cracking a grin before laughing at the scared man in front of him.

"Don't ever, ever, ever, _ever_ ask me to do anything like that ever again" Bruce pleaded, eyes still wide.

"Aww, come on. It wasn't _that bad_," Tony replied, grinning.

Bruce simply glared at Tony with fading green eyes.

*** STONY FOREVER ***

It was about an hour later, and both men were silent at work. Tony was sitting in a rolling chair, feet propped up on his work desk, tinkering with a metal object in his lap. Bruce sat in a similar chair a few feet away at work with, well, with some sort off calming yoga slash breathing stuff.

Bruce believed his heart was still beating a mile a minute. He wasn't sure how someone could be doing so well so soon after what he had been through. After he had calmed down, Bruce had demanded that Tony explained everything to him in detail in case something ever happened again and Tony was unable to explain it then. Tony had started telling him about the bomb, the surgery, and the electromagnet, but seeing as everything was so interwoven with the arc, Tony had simple told Bruce everything from his time in Afghanistan.

Bruce could tell that Tony felt alone; it was in the way he spoke, he moved, and it was in his eyes. Bruce rolled his own, wondering why on _Earth _Tony seemed so oblivious to how Steve so _clearly_ felt for him.

"Shut up."

Bruce startled, not expecting the man to speak so suddenly. "I didn't say anyth-"

"You were thinking. It's annoying."

Bruce stared at his pain in the ass friend.

"How about we focus on something else besides my problems for once. Why don't you pick _anything _else to rant slash talk about, we hardly know one another still."

"What would I rant about?" Tony already knew his story, so it's not like he had any more deep feelings to bring to the surface or anything. Besides that, Bruce had always been an open book to everyone he trusted, which had now expanded to include each of the Avengers.

"Oh come on, there has to be something you want to talk about. This may be the only time I ever talk about something besides how awesome my inventions and I are. Ask anyone who knows me, it's a very rare occurrence," Tony said, trying to lighten the mood a bit.

"I've never seen a girl around you besides Pepper," Bruce said, referring to the maybe two seconds he had ever scene the woman as she left the tower, yelling something at Tony.

"We used to be a thing, but she ended it a while ago."

"I'm sorry."

"Yeah, oh well. What about you?"

"You already know that I had to leave Betty so I could protect her."

Tony snorted. "Yeah, whatever you say. You know she could stay here. Hell, after the Chitauri incident, you're a _hero_, Bruce. I'm sure it'd be safe for you to go and stay with her if you'd rather."

"And what if it wasn't? I'd wake up to army tanks surrounding our house one morning... No, it's for the best," Bruce muttered quietly.

"Love sucks," Tony said decidedly.

**A/N: Any thoughts? Please send me a review or any suggestions you may have. Thanks! -A**


	10. Blooming Red

**Disclaimer: I own squat.**

**This chapter is going to get dark... You've been warned.**

Chapter Ten: Blooming Red

Tony knocked back another drink as he watched the street life below him. Just what does Bruce think he knows about his life? '_He doesn't, that's what.' _Tony swung his feet slowly in the air. He was sitting on the edge of the landing pad on the top of the tower, looking over the skyline of the city below. He had come up here about an hour ago, grabbing a bottle of scotch on his way. _Damn Bruce. Damn him and all of his opinions. _Tony just couldn't believe the man's words.

'_Tony, how could you be so brilliant, yet so blind! I see the way he looks at you every time you say or do something amusing. Hell, he'll beam a smile when you just walk into a room!'_

'_I don't know what you're talking about.'_

'_The Hell you don't! I just want you to look me in the eye and tell me that you don't feel anything for him.' Bruce's_ _voice quieted._

'_Feel anything for who?'_

'_Stop playing dumb, Tony. You know I'm talking about Steve.'_

'_I don't know what I feel.'_

No, there was no way. There was no way in _Hell _that it could be true. The world just wasn't kind enough to let someone like Steve Rogers have feelings for someone as worthless as himself. The man himself had basically told Tony, not even a week after meeting him, that he was worthless and that Steve could have no other feelings for him beside hatred.

'_Yeah, big man in a suit of armor. Take that off, what are you?'_

'_Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist.'_

'_I know guys with none of that worth _ten_ of _you_. I've seen the footage. The only thing you really fight for is _yourself_. You're not the guy to make the sacrifice play, to lay down on a wire and let the other guy crawl over you.'_

He was right, too. That is the worst part about it. His childhood hero had told him these biting words, in front of others, and they were true.

Tony threw back the bottle of scotch once more, the empty glass sitting abandoned next to him. He looked at the bottle with a frown as it ran out. He quickly stood up and hurtled the bottle as hard as he could over the edge of the landing pad, watching it grow smaller until it disappeared into the darkness.

*** STONY FOREVER ***

The piece metal was cool in his palm. Tony felt the slightest bit of relief at simply holding the razor blade, though it was quickly losing its power over him as it sat motionless.

Fingers shaking by drink, not by fear, moved the razor blade to trace light lines across an exposed wrist. The movements cause a shiver of anticipation to pass over Tony, his eyes closed and his mouth hanging slightly open. Tony's eyes opened to focus on his wrist and the metal he held in his right hand.

Without hesitation the blade pushed hard against soft flesh, an almost invisible line following behind in its path. Red bloomed to the surface of his skin, and Tony stared in awe at its beauty. The buzz in his head cleared for a second, as did the pain in his chest. Line after line of blooming red followed the first, each one mesmerizing Tony with their brilliance.

'He_ wont be happy, you know. You should stop. You should tell him and let him _help_ you,'_ a voice whispered to Tony from the back of his mind.

'_No. No one will care, so what's the use on telling them?' _he replied to the voice.

'He_ will care. You know he will,' _it argued back.

'_Why would he care? I feel so alone. I feel like nobody cares about me, that nobody would even realize if I was gone. Nobody would shed a tear, instead they'd feel relieved,' _Tony continued, ignoring the voice's last comment. He drove the razor blade against his wrist again, harder than the others.

'_I feel like I'm nothing more that a waste of space and it kills me to know that; that is all I'll ever be,_' Tony finished.

Tony leaned his head back against his pillows. As Tony stared at the ceiling above him, his thoughts started becoming hazy. His head became heavy and lolled to the side, his eyes slowly recognizing the large windows that made up the wall in front of him. Tony's peripheral vision was quickly turning red as his blood stained the sheets beneath his body. Tony's last thoughts were of _his _smiling face before everything went dark.

**A/N: Any thoughts? Please send me a review or any suggestions you may have. Thanks! -A**


	11. Public Nudity

**Disclaimer: I own squat.**

Chapter Eleven: Public Nudity

Steve went through his mourning routine slower than usual, almost regretting even getting out of bed. After he got back from his early morning run, Jarvis updated Steve on everyone's locations, just as he did every morning after Steve's run.

Steve had requested it as a guise to keep it from looking like he was stalking Tony while still allowing him to know the genius's location should Steve wish to find him. This had started long before Tony's kidnapping, a time when Steve would have asked so that he could hunt Tony own for them to hang out as per usual, and Jarvis had started up with the habit the first morning after Tony's return.

"Agent Romanoff and Clint are still off on their quote secret spy missions for SHIELD unquote, and Doctor Banner is currently in flight on his way to retrieve some of his old equipment and notes from the college. Thor is still in Asgard, Sir is in his bedroom, and you are listening to this report from the kitchen."

"So the only people here are Tony and I?" Steve asked.

"That is correct, sir."

Steve put his glass in the sink and went quickly to his room. _'Maybe now Tony and I can hang out again. Then maybe things can start going back to how they used to be,' _Steve thought to himself happily.

Steve jumped in the shower without bothering to wait for it to heat up. After a quick shower and putting on some clothes, Steve would finally get some more time alone with Tony.

*** STONY FOREVER ***

Steve stood outside of Tony's door, trying to calm himself down before talking to the man. He leaned forwards and knocked a few times on the door. Tony didn't respond. He knocked again, a little bit harder. Tony still didn't respond.

Steve reached forwards and hesitantly pushed open the door. The lights were on almost as low as possible, and there was no movement in the room. Steve moved quietly towards the bed, not wanting to wake the genius should he _actually _be sleeping for once. Just as he was about to pull the thick comforter back to reveal whatever may be beneath, Steve heard a slight creek in a floorboard behind him.

Steve whipped around to come face to face with Tony. His hair was wet and hanging slightly in his face, water droplets trailing from the mass of curls down his face, neck, and chest until they hit a fluffy white towel resting low upon Tony's hips. Steve gulped, unconsciously following the path of the drops of water, his mouth agape slightly; unable to form the words he was about to say.

"Like what you see?"

Steve's head snapped up; a dark pink blush setting into his cheeks as blue eyes met brown, slightly crinkled from Tony's smirk.

"I, uh," Steve trailed off. His brain belatedly noticed Tony's left arm, bound in a white bandage from his wrist to halfway to his elbow. _'When did that happen?'_

"What happened to your arm?" he asked aloud.

Tony looked to the arm in question as if he had forgotten it was bandaged. "Oh, this?" he asked. "Yeah, Brucey and I had an argument last night-"

'_What!'_

"-And I was really pissed afterwards and ended up burning myself a bit when I was working on the suit."

"Oh," Steve mentally sighed, glad that his teammates weren't hurting each other, accident or not. "Well, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Tony paused for a second. "Are you though? You're looking kind of out of it."

Steve tried to drag his thoughts away from how Tony's towel was hanging really, _really, _low- "What? Yeah, I was going to ask if you wanted to hang out today."

"Sure, sounds great," Tony replied happily.

"Great," Steve moved towards the door a bit, his actions encouraging Tony to follow.

"Uh, I'm going to need a sec there, Cap. The law doesn't take kindly to public nudity... And neither does Coulson's taser," Tony shivered dramatically before smirking at Steve.

"Oh, right," Steve stammered. Oh look, his blush is back. "I'll, uh, I'll be in the living room." With that Steve turned and practically bolted out the door.

*** STONY FOREVER ***

"Do you want to go see a movie later?" Tony asked as he and Steve walked through the park, hotdogs in hand. "There's a drive in movie theater relatively close by that's showing a few movies tonight," Tony added.

Steve's mental capacity somewhat shutdown at Tony's words. _'A movie? I thought that nowadays people still go to movies on dates. Tony wouldn't be asking me to... Unless... No, I'm just getting my hopes up. Someone as smart as Tony would be able to see how wrong it is for two men to have feelings for each other... Even if I've never been able to see that'_ Steve's thoughts trailed off as he realized Tony was still waiting for an answer. "Uh, yeah, sure. Do you know what they're showing?"

"Some kid's movie, a sappy romance movie, and a thriller about a killer disease thing. Also, one of the actresses totally looks like Pep."

Steve chuckled, knowing which of the movies Tony would rather see. "How about the last one?"

"Okay, it's a date," Tony grinned.

Steve may or may not have almost walked into a tree after that, but everyone has decided to ignore that moment.

*** STONY FOREVER ***

Steve glanced around the living room nervously. Steve was a few minutes early from when Tony had said they'd need to leave, and Steve had just heard a door close down the hallway. Tony strolled into the room wearing old jeans and a black Sabbath tee. He had instructed Steve to wear civilian clothes that didn't look like they belonged to his grandfather so the pair might not be recognized in public. He took the baseball cap from his hand and placed it a bit crookedly on his head, grinning at Steve. Steve's heart fluttered; the jeans hugged Tony's body in all the right places, the tee was tight, his grin as bright as always, and his eyes looked enormous under his dark brown hair and baseball cap.

The two rode down the elevator without speaking, neither one really knowing what to say. When they got out in the garage, Tony directed Steve over to one of his more inconspicuous vehicles, being a light blue '67 Chevy Camaro. The engine started with a hum, and Steve could swear that Tony could hear his heartbeat going faster and faster as they drove towards what may or may not be a date.

**A/N: Any thoughts? Please send me a review or any suggestions you may have. Thanks! -A**


	12. Nothing Spreads Like Fear

**Disclaimer: I own squat.**

Chapter Twelve: Nothing Spreads Like Fear

The car rolled to a lazy stop two rows back from the small group of cars parked right in front of the screen. Just because Tony had driven them in one of his more inconspicuous cars, doesn't mean their faces were any less noticeable. Tony pulled a baseball cap on to somewhat hide his face as he ran to the building nestled between the movie lots to get snacks, leaving Steve to watch the pre-movie cartoons.

Tony was busy trying to juggle two cokes, a bucket of popcorn, and one of every type of candy the concession stand had when he heard a beautiful sound. Looking up, he noticed Steve sitting in the car, the roof still down from driving, letting the sound of his laughing float a few feet over to Tony. Tony looked to the movie screen to see an old _Tom and Jerry_ clip playing.

The cat was lighting a stick of dynamite into the mouse hole, and at the same time, the mouse was lighting another stick of dynamite underneath the cat's body. This, of course, only ended up blowing up in the cat's face. Literally.

Tony carefully maneuvered into the car; Steve thankfully taking away some of the junk food before he spilt it all.

"You know, this cartoon started in the 1940s. I watched it a few times when Bucky dragged me to the movies for a double date. It always ended up as Bucky with the two dames, but he was happy so I didn't mind."

"Oh come on, what dame could pass up a cute little guy like you. I'm sure they were just too scared to talk to you incase you turned them down." Steve chuckled. So maybe he accidentally uses '40s terms around Steve, and maybe he called him 'cute' out loud, but Steve didn't seem to notice.

"Too scared to step on me was more like it. I'm sure you've seen the pictures from before the serum; if people didn't look out when we were at boot camp then they could have stepped on me!" Steve joked, trying his hardest to keep a straight face. The two of them made it a total of three seconds before they started laughing at the images of a little Steve being stepped on in their heads.

"It's hard to imagine; you being alive when _Tom and Jerry_ came out, and yet you're sitting here with me, still young and healthy. I didn't watch _Tom and Jerry_ as a kid, but it was still one of those things that it seems like it's been there for _forever."_

"Not _forever_, just for a while. Besides, what little kid doesn't watch cartoons growing up?" Steve asked, giving Tony an incredulous look.

"Howard thought they were too childish; if he was going to be stuck with me as a son, then he at least wasn't going to let me waste my time watching cartoons like every other kid. That was why I built Dummy so young; I was too smart for other little kids to play with me, to small to play with the big kids, and not good enough to get any time from my dad," Tony trailed off, his eyes far off as he remembered his empty childhood.

"I'm ashamed of him," Steve replied quietly a minute later.

"Of who?"

"Your father. The Howard I knew and the Howard you knew sound like two completely different people. I just can't believe the way he treated you; that was not the Howard who was my friend. I wish he were still alive to ask him how he could have been so horrible to his own son."

"Yeah, well, I'm glad the old bastard's dead. Now I finally don't have to take anymore shit from him about not being good enough," Tony looked away at the far off tree line a few yards away from the edge of the lot.

Steve didn't really know how to respond to that. He leaned towards Tony and took the man's hand, squeezing it briefly. Tony turned, meeting Steve's bright blue eyes and squeezed back. So maybe they didn't let go of one another's hands for much longer than what was normal for two fiends, but Steve didn't seem to notice.

*** STONY FOREVER ***

'_Hey.' Beth Emhoff answered her phone._

'_Yeah, John Neal here. You just had sex with me in a hotel and left without saying goodbye,' a man answered._

The movie had just started and Steve was already blushing a bit. _'I'm going to have some fun with this movie tonight...' _Tony thought to himself.

'_Yeah, I ended up being delayed. So sorry. I was panicking.'_

'_Well, if I don't get to see you again, I just wanted to say it was nice to see you again.'_

'_Yeah, it was nice to see you too.'_

'_Um...and listen, use that other email I gave you. Because that's the only secure one, okay?'_

'_Okay,' the woman coughed._

'_You alright?'_

'_Yeah, I'm just...I'm just jet lagged and tired.'_

'_Well, you should go home and get some rest. Hong Kong is a long way.'_

'_Oh, wait.' The woman turned her head, hearing her flight being called._

Tony stopped listening as Steve leaned towards him. Tony interrupted him as he opened his mouth to speak, "Confused?"

Steve nodded, "Yep."

"Okay, so the Beth woman cheated on her husband with the guy on the phone sometime in the past and they hooked up again the night before their phone call," Steve blushed. "Jet lag is when some people feel kind of sick after they take a long flight, and that is what the woman thinks she has."

"So she has the sickness that is going to be the really bad one during the movie."

"Right. She just doesn't know it yet."

*** STONY FOREVER ***

_A man, named Mitch, walks into a school office where a woman and a little boy wait for him._

'_He said he was feeling very warm in Miss Jacobs class. I took his temperature again since I called. It's just a touch over a hundred,' the nurse spoke._

'_Okay. Well, first his mom and now the mighty Clark.' The little boy coughs._

'_Alright, lets go get some soup for you and mom,' the man turns to leave._

Steve leaned in again. "The little boy doesn't have the sickness, does he?" Steve asked.

Tony just couldn't believe it. _'How can one man be so adorable? Captain America is sitting here, watching a _movie, _and he's _still _worried about a little kid _character._' _Tony thought.

"His mom was the woman who had it a bit ago so probably," Tony murmured.

Tony watched as Steve nodded, still not taking his eyes of the screen. He leaned back a little from Tony so he wasn't leaning over the middle consul of the car. Tony stayed where he was as he watched Steve munch on some popcorn, his eyes completely fixed on the screen as if his missing any of it would ensure the little boy's demise. Tony didn't make a move to scoot back away from him, but Steve didn't seem to notice.

*** STONY FOREVER ***

_The man was blabbering to the woman about something, but she didn't seem to notice his presence. She seemed to have gotten much more sick since the last time she had been shown on screen, and it wasn't when she drop the mug she attempted to pick up, shattering into a million pieces._

'_My hand!_

'_Sit down! Sit down! Sit down! Watch your feet. Come on,' the man guided her away from the broken pieces of the mug._

'_Come on. Come on. What happened to you? You take too much of that blue stuff?' The woman didn't respond as she collapsed onto the floor and started convulsing._

Steve stopped paying attention to the movie. All he could see as he stared at the movie screen in front of them was Tony's seizing body on the floor of the Avengers tower. His mouth was still foaming from the poison, and his chest was twitching violently as it continued to try taking in oxygen. He felt the same feeling of panic push through him, and he grabbed onto the thing closest to him, burying his head in it as he tried to avoid those horrible memories.

Tony looked down, surprised to see Steve burying his head in his shoulder as he held onto his arm. Tony doubted it was the movie that had the Cap holding onto him for dear life, but instead memories, possibly from the war. He reached his left hand over and awkwardly rubbed Steve's back.

"You okay? Do you want to leave?" Tony asked. _'I shouldn't have brought him to this damn movie. I knew it would have some scenes like this, I just didn't think of how it would affect the Cap.'_

Steve looked up into Tony's warm brown eyes, slowly coming away from the memories. "No, I'm okay," he said. Steve loosened his grip on Tony's arm to allow the circulation to start back in Tony's arm, but didn't let go. He laid his head back on Tony's shoulder, shifting until he could see the movie screen from his new spot. Tony blushed at the close contact, not used to people being comfortable with being so close to him unless they were ripping his clothes off, but Steve didn't seem to notice.

*** STONY FOREVER ***

Tony and Steve got back to the tower around nine. After Steve held onto Tony for most of the movie, he definitely needed a drink. Steve plopped onto the couch, followed by Tony after he grabbed a glass of scotch.

The two had been talking about this and that for a while, Tony drinking a little whenever the conversation lulled and was starting to get a bit drunk. It was during one of these quiet moments when Jarvis informed Tony of Pepper's being in the elevator on her way to see him.

Steve looked up from his work when she entered. He had been leaning over on the left side of the couch he was sharing with Tony, his left hand holding his head up as he sketched _cough Tony cough._

"Tony-" she began.

"See! I told you, Steve. I told you!" Tony yelled, effectively cutting off Pepper.

Steve nodded, "Yeah, I can see it now."

Pepper rolled her eyes before continuing, deciding to ignore the vague exchange between the two. "Look, I need you to sign a few papers. It wont take long, and I've already read them for you on my plane ride here."

"Plane ride?" Tony asked aloud, though mostly to himself. "Are you okay? Do you have jet lag?"

Pepper paused before answering. "Yes... Why-" but she was cut off once again.

"No! Get away from me, you'll get me sick and then I'll _die_!" Tony jumped up and rand to the back of the couch, popping his head up next to Steve's to yell out the last word. "Protect me from her Steve! Use your super serum immune system to make her go away!" Steve's mouth opened and closed, unsure what to say to the tipsy man.

Pepper sighed and rolled her eyes. "I don't even want to know," she muttered to herself. "I'm just going to leave these papers on the table. I'll be back in the morning to pick them up," she paused, observing Tony who was still hissing at her to get away before she made him sick. "Or I may just send someone for me... Good night Captain Rogers," she turned to leave, "and good night, Tony!" she threw over her shoulder as she walked.

"Out, Sickie!" was her only response before the elevator door shut.

**A/N: Any thoughts? Please send me a review or any suggestions you may have. Thanks! -A**


	13. Last Glance

**Disclaimer: I own squat.**

Chapter Thirteen: Last Glance

Steve and Tony decided to watch another movie after lunch the next day. Thor was still in Asgard, and Clint and Natasha's super secret spy mission had turned out to be a long and complicated under cover mission. Bruce had gotten back to the tower just as Steve was heading out for his run, and the man was getting caught up on sleep after his long flight.

Steve and Tony had begun the movie on opposite sides of the couch. As their one-movie-turned-movie-trilogy of Men in Black had gotten halfway through the sequel, Steve found himself sitting in the middle of the couch with Tony practically draped over his side, his head resting on Steve's shoulder.

"Ya know, it could be like this... Just like this, always," Steve said, interrupting the peaceful silence.

"I've always felt like such an outsider in this hero industry. Because I'm so insane, I guess," Tony replied after a pause.

"You're not an outsider, though. If it weren't for you, I don't know if our ragtag team could even function. I don't know what we would do without you... what I would do without you," Steve said quietly. As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he seemed to realize just what he had said. "Because we've gotten so close since the first battle. To be honest, I pretty much hated you at first-"

"Gee, thanks."

"-But now you're my closest friend, Tony," Steve finished as if he hadn't been interrupted.

Tony took a moment to think about what Steve had said.

"I'm not used to feeling like I belong where I am," Tony replied in almost a whisper.

"You've always had someone, at every time in your life. Before us, it was Pepper and Rhodey. Before them, you had your mom and da-"

"I don't mean to go all Michael Jackson on you, Cap, but I never really had a childhood. My dad was always drunk, beating me up and calling me a disappointment, or he was doing _both_. And Pepper? She only put up with me for the first few _years_ because I was her boss. Rhodey and I fought a lot because he didn't think I was serious about anything, and he only talked to me in the past few years because I was still providing the army with weapons. So no, I've never really had someone."

"You still have us; Natasha, Clint, Thor, Bruce... and me."

Tony stared at Steve, trying to keep his face an emotionless mask, as he had to do for most of his past. Steve's ocean blue eyes were sincere, his smile kind and his face hopeful that Tony would listen to what he was saying. He also couldn't ignore how much he had come to rely on the team for companionship, especially Steve. He couldn't ignore how close they had gotten, emotionally and, currently, physically.

Tony coughed, trying to ignore the strong feelings for the man in front of him that were trying to turn into words before they could escape his mouth and ruin the friendship he had with the man. "I still don't really trust Natasha after all of her secrets, and Clint is an asshole but I'm starting to trust him. I think its safe to call Bruce my friend, and the Hulk if you count him apart from Bruce."

Steve didn't answer, nor did he move. His eyes were still locked with Tony, who was still leaning heavily on his side. He knew it was wrong. He had admitted his feelings for Tony to himself not long before the man's kidnapping, but he never let on to anyone else just how much he cared for the genius. After all, a man should never have feelings for another man, and he knew that. It was just wrong and completely unnatural. So no matter how much he may love him, he knew he couldn't risk what people may think or do to Tony. Steve shook his head, breaking eye contact as he tried to stop thinking about how much he would _love _to kiss the lips that had been only inches from his moments ago. He just couldn't risk it. Steve stood, and a surprised Tony fell back from his quickly moving form. After leaving the room quickly, Steve began to sprint to his room, as if the faster he went the farther away from his feelings he could get. He slammed his door in his haste to run away, the sound traveling back to the man on the couch with a sound of finality. Behind his closed door, Steve walked to his bed and lay down, pulling the covers up over his head.

Alone in the living room, a Tony flinched at the sound of a slamming door. His insides were in turmoil of emotion, and a single tear moved slowly down his face, but Steve didn't seem to notice.

*** STONY FOREVER ***

Tony sat in his room, drunk. Not literally, though. The bar would have been out of the way to get to on his way to his room, seeing as it was in the other side of the room as the way to his room was. After Steve ran away from him, Tony couldn't stand to be in the room a moment longer than he had to. He moved quickly, his feet moving by memory. His mind was occupied with replaying the past few minutes in his head over and over again, trying to figure out what had Steve running away from him so suddenly.

He closed his bedroom door behind him, using the manual lock in favor of the one controlled by Jarvis. Because he didn't have cameras anywhere in his room, Jarvis couldn't see what he was doing. That didn't mean the AI wasn't capable of putting it together. Jarvis had Tony's entire history in his database in case of emergencies, including information such as when his sensors would pick up the sounds of his master's nightmares.

Tony had worked on Jarvis many times while drunk, adding in functions and services he wouldn't remember the next morning. Tony did remember enough about Jarvis to know that it wouldn't be long until the AI alerted Steve of Bruce about his emotional distress, seeing as the last time he had been like this, Jarvis's cameras had seen his new scars while he worked shirtless in the lab one day. Tony had had to mute the AI for quite awhile, Jarvis having decided to stay silent so his master wouldn't put him to sleep just to keep from hearing him worry about his creator's emotional and physical health.

"Jarvis," he spoke. His room didn't have cameras, but it did have speakers that Tony found handy when he wanted Jarvis to start the coffee machine so it would be ready right when he walked into the kitchen. "Alpha. Mike. Foxtrot."

"Security code accepted, sir. Temporary partial system shut down initiated. All basic living functions running normally." Tony sighed, knowing he was safe from being interrupted. Bruce was still asleep, Jarvis was only functioning partially, and there was no way in Hell Steve was about to come and knock on his door anytime soon, if ever again.

Tony opened the small drawer of his bedside table. He pushed some things towards the back, using the new space to open the secret bottom of the drawer. He pulled out the small bag, taking his time to undo the drawstrings and pull out the solitary item it held. The metal was as cool and as inviting as last time. Possibly even more alluring though, as his need for it was much greater this time.

Tony placed the sharp edge of the razor blade against his wrist, savoring the feeling for a moment. Without thinking about it, Tony changed the direction of the blade so it would run parallel to his wrist, rather than perpendicular. He needed it. _Badly. _Tony felt as if he had never needed anything else as much in his life as he needed the pain and the blood in that exact moment.

His mind was clear as he dragged the blade down his wrist quickly. The cut was pretty deep compared to what he had done in the past, so he stopped when the cut was about an inch and a half long. He couldn't pass out too quickly; he needed it to last. Tony cut again and again; same depth, same length. By the time he stopped, Tony's forearm was covered in cuts. They were quick to bleed and his arm was disappearing under the quickly moving sea of red.

'_This isn't right,' _he thought to himself. _'I cut too hard, too much.' _But it was too late. Before Tony could try to find something to stop the bleeding, he was already loosing consciousness. Just before he blacked out, Tony prayed to whoever might be listening that they wouldn't let the last time he saw Steve be when the man was running away from him and leaving him alone in the world once again.

**A/N: Any thoughts? Please send me a review or any suggestions you may have. Thanks! -A**


	14. Seeing Red

**Disclaimer: I own squat.**

Chapter Fourteen: Seeing Red

Steve and Bruce were sitting quietly in the kitchen. Steve was cooking breakfast for the inhabitants of the tower after his morning run while Bruce sipped on his coffee as he read the morning newspaper. The only sounds were the sizzling bacon, the hiss as the pancake batter hit the hot pan, and the occasional turning of a page.

Both men jumped when the sound of thunder echoed from somewhere above their heads. The two exchanged a look before Steve turned off the stove and Bruce folded his paper up. Jarvis took the two straight to the roof of the building as they entered the elevator, not needing to ask the humans where they wished to go since it was quite obvious. They walked out of the elevator as the doors opened on the top floor and made their way through the large room to the rounded balcony area next to where Tony's machines disassembled his suit. Thor, of course, was standing there with a grin.

"Greetings brethren. It has been too long since we last spoke," he said boisterously, shaking their hands with enthusiasm.

"I thought you were supposed to be is Asgard right now. What's up?" Bruce asked.

Thor sighed. "I have news I wish to share with you. I wanted to visit with my parents, for my mother misses her sons terribly when they are away. As I was walking with my friends, the Warriors Three, we came upon a messenger. The boy told me that Heimdall sought to speak with me right away. I went right away to speak with him, and Heimdall told me that of which held his curiosity. He said that he had noticed blank spots around Midgard where he should have been able to see clearly. Heimdall is very powerful, and the only one to have ever tricked his eyes has been Loki."

"So, Loki escaped his prison?" Steve asked.

"It seems so, my friend. Heimdall noticed the gaps in his vision were from this area of Midgard, and he wanted to warn me since he knows of how we bonded during our great battle against the Chitauri. I came quickly to warn you in case my brother decides he wants to mess with my friends."

"I think... He may have already been here," Bruce said.

"You saw my brother?"

"No, but just like Heimdall, Jarvis is programmed to see this building. Well, Tony got hurt one night but Jarvis didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. Someone broke into the tower, which, by the way, has better security than any bank or governmental building, without being seen. Tony has sensors located al over the outside of this building, in the windows, and every door. If someone were to come in here without permission or without it being one of us, then there's no way Jarvis wouldn't have seen them, unless..."

"Unless they couldn't be seen," Steve concluded.

"You mortals have not figured the ways to avoid being seen, correct? Then it must have been my brother. Tell me, how did you know he came here? What did he do to the Man of Iron?"

"He poisoned Tony," Steve said quietly, looking over the balcony at the city below.

"My brother does many a foolish thing, but he would never poison someone. If he wished one harm, Loki would have used one of his tricks, not something he believes only a petty mortal would use."

"If you see it, could you tell us exactly what Loki put in Tony's drink, then?" Bruce asked.

"Of course. As a child, Loki taught me some of what he knew. I myself cannot do magic like my brother, but perhaps I could tell you what was meant for our friend.

"Follow me, then. I still have the bottle in the lab from testing it."

*** STONY FOREVER ***

"This magic is similar to Loki's scepter."

"Wasn't his scepter part Tesseract or something? Steve asked.

"Yes, but it was used to gain one much power, especially over others in battle. One must only walk through the battlefield and touch the scepter to an enemy's chest to have them walk with them, against their fellow soldiers."

"So, the scepter was mostly used for mind control? Why didn't Loki just use it on Tony, why did he have to spell his alcohol? Steve asked.

"I heard the Man of Iron speak of how Loki tried to use the scepter on him before throwing him out the window. The Man of Iron never fell under Loki's control, so something must have protected him."

Steve and Bruce shared a look, both thinking of a once strange metal object they had seen resting right above Tony's heart that they both now knew to be the reason their friend is still alive.

"My brother must have made this concoction to control the Man of Iron from the inside out. He would ingest it, and as it spread to his entire body, it would kill him. As his spirit left his body, Loki's concoction would be able to take control of his body. Loki would then bring the Man of Iron back to life so he may serve my brother however he pleased."

"I was right, then. The stuff was killing him," Steve said to Bruce.

"It seems so. If we hadn't treated it like any other poison, then Tony could have been under Loki's control right now."

"The Man of Iron is well once again, is he not?"

"Yeah, he's fine. We got it out of Tony's system and brought him back before Loki could, so he's okay now, " Bruce reassured him.

"Should we go tell Tony that we know what exactly that stuff was now?"

"Yeah, he needs to get up sometime before dinner anyways," Bruce agreed, a small, fond smile gracing his lips.

*** STONY FOREVER ***

Steve knocked on Tony's door. No response. He knocked again, a bit harder, but there was still no response. _'Déjà vu' _he thought to himself. Steve stood silently for a moment, unsure if he should leave Tony be or risk a repeat of the last time he went to get Tony from his room during the morning. Deciding to risk it, Steve opened the door slowly, listening this time for any sounds from the bathroom. There was nothing. No light snoring indicating Tony was still asleep, the bathroom door was open to reveal a dark and empty room, and there were certainly no suggestive comments about Steve visiting Tony's room so often.

Steve saw a little bit of light from the bed. The way it was angled made it seem like Tony had fallen asleep so only a little bit of light from his arc reactor could be seen beneath his body. The light flickered. _'Its not supposed to do that,'_ Steve thought worriedly. He moved quickly across the room, his heart beginning to pound at the thought of the one thing keeping Tony alive failing before his eyes, if that was really what was happening. He stepped into the room when it hit him like a ton of bricks. As Steve's eyes were still adjusting to the room Jarvis kept nearly pitch black for Tony, a strong scent washed over him. It was rustic, metallic, overpowering, and very familiar from his time in the war.

Steve was sure his heart stopped in that moment, the color draining from him and leaving him pale. Not as pale as the ghastly form in front of him, however. Tony was lying face up on the bed, his chest barely moving as it labored to intake air. The pale lighting had been caused by the dimming of the arc reactor, which looked as if it was about to stop working any second now. Tony was still wearing the clothes from yesterday, only they were rumpled now and the left sleeve of Tony's shirt had been yanked to above his elbow. His forearm was red. The blood was still trying to ooze out of the open gashes along Tony's forearm, though much more of it was dried on the sheets or his right hand.

A gasp escaped Steve as he noticed the small object in Tony's hand. _'He... He did this to himself?' _Steve wondering why in the world Tony would have done something like this to himself. His racing mind brought him back to the night before. Everything was going great until Steve basically ran away from the man. _'Its all my fault,' _he thought. Steve shook his head of his thought, trying not to panic so he could help Tony.

Steve rushed into the bathroom, throwing the tap water on and tossing a washcloth into the water as he grabbed another. He picked up the wet washcloth on his way out of the room, using it to cover Tony's cuts. The water in the washcloth wouldn't allow the blood to still seeping out of his arm to go anywhere, trapping it in his veins. He put the dry washcloth over the other to make sure it wouldn't move before deciding that was all he could do for Tony at the moment.

Steve picked up the man, careful not to jostle him too much. It was far easier to pick up the smaller man than it should have been. Steve turned and ran out the door, moving as fast as he could towards where he heard the others heading to after he left to get Tony.

"Bruce!" he yelled. He chanted the name over and over in the short time it took him to propel his body towards the others. As he entered the living room, Steve saw Bruce and Thor starting to stand, worried expressions on their faces. Bruce paled as he saw the limp figure in Steve's arms, noticing how both men's clothes were soaked in a red liquid that could only be one thing.

"Place him on the couch," he ordered quickly, moving next to Tony as soon as Steve backed away. "His pulse is too slow, he's hardly breathing, and he's lost a _lot _of blood. Steve, we need to take him to the hospital. _Now._" Steve nodded, gently picking up Tony's unmoving form. "Jarvis?" Bruce asked the ceiling.

"I called Mr. Hogan as soon as the Captain exited Master Stark's room. He's waiting downstairs to take Master Stark to the hospital."

"Thank you," Steve breathed out as they rushed to the elevator. As soon as all four bodies were in the elevator, the doors slammed shut and gravity seemed to disappear. Jarvis only slowed their descent enough towards the end to keep the men from slamming into the base of the elevator shaft, the entire ride lasting only seconds. Happy was sitting in the driver's seat of Tony's fastest car that would fit all of them, having traded it out for his personal car he drove to the tower. Steve jumped into the passenger's seat as Bruce and Thor quickly got into the back of the car. Steve held on tightly to Tony as Happy raced through the streets far above the speed limit.

*** STONY FOREVER ***

_All around me are familiar faces_

_Worn out places, worn out faces_

_Bright and early for their daily races_

_Going nowhere, going nowhere_

_Their tears are filling up their glasses_

_No expression, no expression_

_Hide my head I want to drown my sorrow_

_No tomorrow, no tomorrow_

_And I find it kinda funny_

_I find it kinda sad_

_The dreams in which I'm dying_

_Are the best I've ever had_

_I find it hard to tell you_

_I find it hard to take_

_When people run in circles_

_It's a very, very mad world, mad world_

_Children waiting for the day they feel good_

_Happy birthday, happy birthday_

_Made to feel the way that every child should_

_Sit and listen, sit and listen_

_Went to school and I was very nervous_

_No one knew me, no one knew me_

_Hello, teacher, tell me what's my lesson_

_Look right through me, look right through me_

_And I find it kinda funny_

_I find it kinda sad_

_The dreams in which I'm dying_

_Are the best I've ever had_

_I find it hard to tell you_

_I find it hard to take_

_When people run in circles_

_It's a very, very mad world, mad world._

**A/N: Any thoughts? Please send me a review or any suggestions you may have. Thanks! -A**


	15. Blushing Stripper

**Disclaimer: I own squat.**

Chapter Fifteen: Blushing Stripper

An annoying beeping noise was the first thing he noticed when he woke up. He could smell the overpowering scent of disinfectant with a hint of rubber gloves. He was in a hospital. '_Great.'_ Tony searched his memories, trying to figure out why he was in there in the first place. _'Oh," _it came rushing back; the pain as Steve ran away and as he dug the razor blade against his arm. How he became dizzy quickly as he looked at all of that _blood_. Then came the peacefulness of the dark.

'_I'm alive... Shit.'_ Tony stirred, a small tugging sensation coming from something attached just below the bend in his right elbow. His left forearm had been wrapped up tightly, and he could feel the telltale signs of some kind of pain medication. Tony's right hand was warm, incredibly so. He looked over to see Steve; hands wrapped around his own right hand, his head resting on top of them as he slept. Steve had carefully maneuvered himself so that he wouldn't accidentally move the wires in his arm that Tony traced back to a heart monitor and an IV. He moaned quietly, wishing he could go back into the inviting darkness. His right hand moved as Steve picked his head up, blinking blearily. He noticed almost right away that Tony was conscious, opening his mouth to speak before Tony interrupted him.

"If you have something to say, right now's a perfect time to keep it to yourself."

Steve sighed. "Tony," he trailed off. The men sat there, neither one knowing quite what to say. A few minutes later of an unbearable silence, Steve found his voice again. "Why?"

"I'm alone. That's why," Tony snapped.

"Tony, we've gone over this. You aren't alone!"

Tony let out a bark of laughter; sounding more angered and annoyed than anything else. "Yeah right. You tell me I'm not alone right before you literally_ run away from me_. You _left _me in that room by _myself_. Explain to me how that doesn't just _scream _alone."

Steve opened his mouth to reply, but Tony didn't give him a chance. "Not to mention everything that I've been through! Once upon a time, I was sweet and innocent... and then shit happened. I had to grow up faster than anyone ever should. My mom was always busy trying to keep my father from beating me or she was working herself until it eventually _killed _her to try to keep our family from _completely _falling apart. My father was a drunk who _hated _me. He was cold, calculating, never told me he loved me, didn't even tell me that he _liked_ me. The happiest day of his life was shipping me off to boarding school. _No one _can handle to be around such a dick like me for too long, so I've never had any real friends that could put up with me for more than one year. The only reason I was ever even considered to be an Avenger was because I built flying armor and called myself a hero. Then to top it off, I got fucking _kidnapped _for three months, and I'm still not over it!"

Steve just sat there quietly. Tony was still scowling, and his breathing and heartbeat had increased with his outburst. "I meant what I said that night. I've never felt like I belonged anywhere, really. I'm just... I'm lost," Tony said in an almost whisper.

The doctor chose that exact moment to come in, Steve still not having a chance to reply to Tony's outburst turned vulnerable admittance. The man was of average height; his brown hair greying and his eyes were hiding behind his glasses. His clothes were boring and pretty inexpensive for a doctor, and his long white lab coat flowed behind him slightly as he walked. His fake smile annoyed Tony to no end, also bringing out wrinkles in the man's face. The man began to speak in a voice that reminded Tony of a duck when accompanied with his fake smile. His just as fake expressions of concern as he related to Tony just how much blood he had lost and the not so great condition is body was currently in was lost to Tony as the man didn't bother trying to listen to the idiot.

'_Ordinary fucking people. I hate them,'_ Tony thought to himself.

*** STONY FOREVER ***

It was a few hours past visiting hours. Tony had been given nutrients, medication, and water; the doctor saying his body might not react well to solids for a day or so. He had read the short note Steve had left for him once he fell back asleep, telling him once again that he was _not _alone and that Steve would be back as soon as visitors were allowed in. He had seen the nurses begin to leave as others came to take their place for the night shift, had seen the elderly custodian walk past, and had watched the sun disappear behind the city outside of his room. His small television was on commercial; his stupid and mind numbing nighttime show off for the moment. The woman on the screen was trying to sell him something that no one in the world could possibly _ever _need, but he was sure some idiot out there was currently calling in to buy one. Then the woman said something that caught his attention. The woman asked the viewers question that old saying, "If a tree falls in the forest, and nobody hears it, does it make a sound?"

Tony had no idea why the fuck that saying was important to selling her product, but it made him think, _'If I'm here, but nobody sees me... am I really alive?'_

*** STONY FOREVER ***

Tony was silent the whole way to the tower. Happy had greeted him as Steve rolled him towards the car in the stupidly mandatory wheelchair, but Tony didn't respond. He got up and situated himself in the back of the car, Steve following. Steve had tried a few times at the hospital and during the car ride to get Tony to talk, but he stubbornly refused. No one had ever seen Tony so weak, and he wasn't planning on letting that happen _ever _again.

Tony got out when the car stopped, not even bothering to say goodbye to Happy. Steve thanked the man for driving them and told him that he'd call if they needed him again. Happy nodded, watching his boss walk safely into the building. He then turned towards Steve and asked, "Take good care of him, okay?" Steve nodded, exiting the car and following after Tony at a slow jog. The two stepped into the elevator, and Tony still remained silent as Jarvis greeted the two.

Tony started moving as the elevator opened, heading straight for his room. He ignored Bruce's quiet questions asking him if he was okay and Steve's if he needed anything. Tony noticed, but ignored, Clint sitting on the end of the couch, silently watching everything. He didn't look like he had any questions for Tony, only... understanding? Tony walked away without a glance to the others, both flinching as Tony slams his bedroom door shut. They decided to give the man his space; happy enough that they had removed the manual lock on the door and any and all objects Tony could possibly use to cut himself with. That still didn't keep Steve from looking in the direction of Tony's room multiple times throughout the evening, a worried look remaining constantly on his face.

*** STONY FOREVER ***

Steve lay awake one night a week later. No one had seen much of Tony, having shut himself in his lab, only accepting offerings of food after someone had gone back upstairs after leaving it just outside the lab. Namely Steve, that is. Now he lay awake during a pretty violent thunderstorm; each crack of lightning reminding him of fast flying bullets and fallen friends. Steve pushed himself out of bed, deciding that he wasn't going to be getting any sleep for a while.

"Sir," Jarvis caught Steve's attention as his sensors registered the Captain leaving his room. "Master Stark is in a fitful sleep down in the lab. He fell asleep amongst a project, and I fear if he shifts too much he may injure himself in some way. I have the door to the lab unlocked so you may retrieve Master Stark, if you please."

"Yeah, of course. Thanks for telling me." Steve wasn't sure if he imagined it, but he was pretty sure he heard a hint of concern in the AI's voice when speaking of his creator.

Steve stepped in front of the lab door, finding it unlocked just as Jarvis had said. He spotted Tony, hunched over on a bench next to his wielding gear. _'Of course.'_ Steve walked over to the man and carefully pushed a few warped scraps of metal away from the sleeping man. Steve wedged his arm between Tony's legs and the bench and placed his other on Tony's back. He lifted him slowly, trying not to wake the man. Once Tony was firmly in Steve's hold, Steve studied his face. Dark circles under his eyes indicated the man hadn't really been sleeping for the past week. His hair was ruffled from repeatedly running his hands through it, and a dark smudge of grease colored the man's cheek.

Steve pulled the lab door open with the hand under Tony's legs, moving so that his back propped it open so as to move Tony through without waking him. Steve went up the flight of stairs a bit sideways so Tony's head wouldn't his the wall. He reached the landing and walked through the living room to a partly hidden hallway. He passed a few closed doors that contained who knows what, and stopped to open the door at the end. Just as he had done before, Steve placed Tony onto the bed, leaving the comforter off the man for the moment. Steve got a damp washcloth from the bathroom and rubbed slow circles on Tony's face to ride it of the grease. He put the dirtied washcloth on the bathroom sink before coming back to Tony; the grease was off his skin, but not his clothes, and Steve doubted the man would want it on his sheets. He gripped the bottom of Tony's shirt and started pulling it upwards, his face washed in a light blue as the arc reactor was uncovered. He tossed the shirt to the floor and stood still for a moment hesitating. Steve undid the button and zipper to Tony's pants, barely convincing himself that he _did _need to do this because Tony would _not_ want this stuff to get all over his bed. Just as he was about to get to work again, a flash of lightning accompanied by a loud boom of thunder echoed just outside of the window. Steve jumped, his bones feeling rattles. _'Come on, Steve. Its just lightning.'_ Steve reached forwards once again and started to pull at Tony's pants. He blushed, purposefully _not _looking as he worked. Well, he didn't look _much._

Many people had called Steve's body perfect, but in his mind, the only perfect person was laying on the bed before him. Steve had always loved it when Tony's hair stuck out all over the place after he slept or repeatedly ran his hands through it. He was a bit smaller than Steve, but the man still wasn't short. His tan skin always seems to compliment his beautiful brown eyes that seemed to hold so many secrets. Tony wasn't one to sit around and openly talk about his feelings, but each time since Steve had met Tony and the man had willingly told Steve something personal, it had always given Steve this feeling. It made him feel important and special because Tony is not a very trusting person after all that he's been through. He was always happy with whatever Tony told him, no matter how small it might be.

As he worked now, however, he got to see a bit more of his friend then he had ever before. Steve's blush spread further and got _much _darker as the pants were pulled past Tony's waist. No, Tony didn't go commando. Then again, with how little his briefs left to the imagination, he might as well have. In the brief glimpse Steve got before his eyes snapped shut, Steve had seen _exactly_ how well the material fitted to Tony's body. Steve blindly dropped the pants onto the floor and threw the comforter over Tony's body as quickly as he could. The man curled in on himself and Steve grinned at the sight. Tony mumbled to Steve then who had to lean forwards to hear.

"What?"

"I'm sorry," came the garbled reply.

"Its okay, Tony. I forgive you." Tony's reply was lost in another burst of lightning and thunder. Tony shivered, a small whimpering noise coming seemingly unconsciously to him.

"Tony?"

"Don't leave me... Please?"

"Tony, its okay. Its just a thunder storm."

"I know what it is," Tony's voice was less mumbled. He was probably more awake then he was when he started talking. "The sound of thunder is a sonic boom that sounds when two bolts of lightning strike each other. It just- It reminds me... of before." Tony didn't have to explain any further, Steve knew exactly when Tony was talking about.

"Okay Tony, I wont leave you." Steve toed off his shoes and pulled off his socks and tee shirt. He lay down under the comforter, making sure to leave at least a foot of space between himself and Tony.

"Promise?"

"I promise, Tony. I'm not going to leave you." Tony gave a sleepy smile. Steve blushed lightly as the smaller man promptly filled the space between them, cuddling up to Steve and throwing his arm over Steve's side. Steve cautiously put his arm over the now sleeping Tony, a smile finding its way onto his face as he followed Tony into unconsciousness.

**A/N: Any thoughts? Please send me a review or any suggestions you may have. Thanks! -A**


	16. Loki fuckin' Laufeyson

**Disclaimer: I own squat.**

Chapter Sixteen: Loki fuckin' Laufeyson

Tony woke with a start. His room was washed in the soft glow of light filtering through the large glass windows where he could see the sun beginning to rise. Everything looked so peaceful, but something was wrong here. Tony isn't a light sleeper, so only something _big _could have woken him up, and if he wakes up on his own he can hardly function before he gets his morning coffee. _'So what the fuck is going on?' _Tony asked himself. He sat up and walked towards the windows, unable to feel the soft warmth of the sun as it rose slowly through the windows. Unable to find an obvious answer as to what had woken him, Tony turned towards his bed, intent on getting at least a few more hours of sleep.

'_What the fuck happened last night?'_ Tony's though rang out loudly in his head. Steve lay asleep on the side of the bed closest to the window. He was lying on his side with his back facing Tony. Tony's comforter rested low on Steve's hips and was seemingly the only thing covering the Cap from what he could see. The scene before him could only mean good things... except for the fact that he could see that Steve's legs were tangled with someone else's legs. _'So I'm not quite sure about what happened last night, Steve may or may not be naked under that comforter, and there's another person in my bed and I have no idea who it is... _Please _let Steve be naked!' _Tony wasn't about to lie; there's a reason he's called a playboy. Tony strutted around the bed, curious as to whom his _other _bedmate was. _'Male, tan, a bit shorter than the Cap, wild dark hair... Who is he though?' _Tony was starting to get frustrated. Not only was he unable to remember pretty much _anything _after when he assumed he had dozed off in the lab, but also some _random _guy was cuddled up to _his _Steve. The guy had his face buried against Steve's chest in the perfect position for Tony to be unable to see his face, and he seems pretty _damn_ comfortable there. The man gave a small and sleepy grunt. He shifted his head away from the Cap just enough so that his face wasn't pressed totally against Steve's chest, allowing the man to _actually _breathe a bit.

"What the actual _fuck_?" Tony shouted. The two men in the bed didn't stir. Tony backed away from the pair until his back hit the wall, his breathing and heart rate increasing quickly. "Odd, isn't it. Seeing one's self in another position than one always has," a voice came from somewhere near the door to Tony's bedroom. Tony's head snapped toward the owner of the voice to see Loki, the bastard, standing there in all of his somewhat epic somewhat gay and or girly alien clothes.

"Loki fuckin' Laufeyson," Tony spat. He hesitated a moment, thinking over what he had just said. _'Eww!'_

"In the flesh," Loki spread his arms, sneering at Tony.

"So, what are you plotting this time in that bag full of cats crazy brain of yours?"

Loki dropped his arms and stared unblinkingly at Tony. "I know indeed what evil I intend to do, but stronger than all my afterthoughts is my fury... fury that brings upon mortals the greatest evils."

"You trying to say that you're going to pitch a temper tantrum that'll destroy the Earth or something because I'm a little confused," Tony trailed off with a thoughtful look towards the window. "Oh, and about that fury of yours. Well, you should meet mine. He wears an eye patch, trench coat, and _way _too much leather, but he likes to go by _Nick._"

Loki let out an annoyed huff of breath. "I've come here, _mortal,_ to give you the choice to join me before a unique mind such as yours is lost in a meaningless battle that I am sure to win."

"About that... You see, it's kind of impossible."

"Impossible is a word to be found only in the dictionary of fools. I believed you to be not one, but perhaps I was wrong."

"Yeah, well, not only will the Avengers _crush _you the next time you get your panties in a twist, but you're just plain _crazy,_ Loki. You're the fool to believe anything else."

"Maybe I can change your mind about this matter. You see, I am not of this realm. I have more knowledge than you could ever even _comprehend _with your mortal mind. Not to mention the power of the Tesseract. If you help me to acquire it, to win the war against your little Avengers and anyone else foolish enough to stand up to us, then I can reward you greatly. You will have infinite knowledge, you will never again be alone, or sick, you will never grow old, and you will never be weak. I can heal you, Man of Iron."

"I'm just fine, thanks," Tony snapped.

"Oh really? You can't hide things from me, you know. I've been watching you Stark and I know all there is to know about you. I can heal you of the pain inflicted upon you by others; by your father, your so-called friends, that little woman who left you all alone... and even by little Steven. I can heal your heart just as easily as I can remove the metal in you that fights to rip your heart to shreds."

"I don't believe you. You can't do any of that, it's not possible!"

"I've already told you what I believe of that very _human_ word, Stark. Look around you and you'll know." Loki turned his head to face the bed, Tony's eyes following after.

"It's just an illusion, it's not real. I'm probably still asleep down in the lab and I bet Steve never even went down there to find me," Tony argued.

"What about this, then?" Loki snapped his fingers.

Tony blinked, his eyes slowly adjusting to the dim lighting. He and Loki were standing in a plain room with bland colors, and a closed door and closed blinds to keep the room dark. They were standing right next to a bed, a large lump in the middle of it. Tony leaned forwards, trying to see the faces of which two people Loki had brought him to spy upon. "See, they wouldn't even tell you something as important to them as this. How are you supposed to trust those whom do not tell you of such things." Half of the lump shifted and Tony was now able to make out the two people in the bed.

"Is that Clint... With Phil?" Tony yelled, backing up and covering his mouth.

"They cannot hear you."

Tony uncovered his mouth. "I knew it! I _totally _knew it!" _'Damn he's a sneaky bastard! He must have Jarvis on his side for me to have not seen him come back into the tower after he _left_ after 'checking up' on everything,' _Tony thought to himself.

"I wont keep any secrets from you, Stark. You have my word. I will not be like them."

"What, you wont have an actual _heart_?"

"You believe I have no heart?"

"Well yeah. I mean, you did try to take over my world just because you have daddy issues. I do too man, but do you see me trying to take over someone else's world? No. Just put me back."

"It is required by the spell that you must remain in this form for some time, Stark. After that time is up, you will go back to how you were before you awoke this morn."

"Wait, how long is 'some time' going to la-"

Loki was gone and Tony was back in his bedroom. The sun was about twice as high as it had been when he first woke, but it was still to early for anyone else to be awake. Until then, Tony decided to wander the house in the hopes of one of his AI's being able to pick up on his presence.

"Wait... Who put pants on me?"

**A/N: Any thoughts? Please send me a review or any suggestions you may have. Thanks! -A**


	17. Tony the Angry Ghost

**Disclaimer: I own squat.**

**The title is based off of Casper the friendly ghost...**

Chapter Seventeen: Tony the Angry Ghost

Steve blinked his eyes and yawned sleepily. The room he was in was one he had only been in on a few occasions, but he knew exactly where he was the moment he woke up. Oh, and not to mention the body that was pressed up against his. Steve rolled backwards just enough to be able to see the man that had been practically tucked under him. Tony's hair was ruffled and sticking out in all directions, and his skin had a few pink marks from where he had been pressed up against Steve's bare chest for so long. Steve carefully slipped out of the bed and pulled his t-shirt back on. He wandered through the quiet tower towards the kitchen, intent on making a large breakfast for everyone still in the tower. Natasha and Clint had visited earlier in the week, but they usually just stayed at headquarters after they finished long missions. He was pretty sure Natasha was somewhere in Europe by now since she was called away towards the end of their visit. Thor had gone back to Asgard to search for his brother, and Tony, Bruce, and Watson were still sleeping.

Steve opened the fridge and took out a carton of eggs and a package of bacon. He cracked some of the eggs into a bowl as he waited for the stove to heat up before he started placing slices of bacon on the pan. Bruce wandered in not long after, moving to make his usual early morning tea. Watson came in as Steve was finishing the bacon, also making his own British brand of tea. Steve placed the plates of food in the center of the table before getting out the pitcher or orange juice and the last few pieces of toast that had just finished cooking. The three sat down and ate quietly, only the sounds of forks scraping plates filling the room. Steve was still uncomfortable around Watson, but the two were slowly getting used to being around each other. Bruce had bonded at first with Steve's feelings of standing out among regular humans, then with the doctor's smart mind, so at least one of the three men didn't seem to notice the lingering tension.

After they finished and placed their dishes in the dishwasher and Steve covered up the remaining food, the men went their separate ways. Bruce headed down to his lab, Watson disappeared to wherever he went when he wasn't with one of the science bros, and Steve went to wake Tony up. He peeked into the room to see Tony's form lying still on the bed in practically the same position he was in when Steve had left him. He walked to the bed and gently shook the man's shoulder.

"Tony. Hey, I made breakfast." The form didn't respond to his coaxing. "Tony, come on. You have to wake up sometime." Steve looked over the unresponding form. There was no blood or obvious injury, and Steve knew that even though Tony was not a light sleeper that unexpected touches often made him jerk awake after his time in Afghanistan. Steve checked the man's vitals; his breathing was deep and even and his heartbeat was a little slow, unlike Steve's who was gaining speed.

"Jarvis."

"Yes, Captain Rodgers?"

"Where's Bruce?"

"He was in his room but I sent him in this direction as you seemed to be nervous."

"Oh, uh, thanks."

"My pleasure, Cap." Steve started; Tony programmed Jarvis to be too much like himself sometimes. Only Tony ever called him Cap, for the others it was usually just 'Steve.'

"Steve?" Bruce called out.

"In here."

Bruce opened Tony's door and peeked in. "What're you doing in here? You know what Tony's like when you wake him up without coffee," Bruce stage whispered.

"That's the problem; I came in here to wake him up for breakfast but he isn't responding."

Bruce frowned and walked towards the bed. He checked Tony's breathing and pulse to find the same results Steve had. "Hold on a moment, I would like to retrieve my medical bag."

*** STONY FOREVER ***

"No." Tony wished Steve would just accept it. Instead he was standing there looking like a kicked puppy.

"Steve, this can happen."

"No, it can't," Steve argued back, refusing to believe Bruce's words.

"It's not entirely uncommon with our line of work. It shouldn't be too serious, though. He'll wake up in no time," Bruce said confidently. Tony snorted; he could tell Watson didn't believe his words one hundred percent.

"Wake up in no time?" Steve asked, his voice rising. "You just told me he's in a _coma_! How's he supposed to wake up _'anytime soon'_?"

"Steve, just calm down," Bruce said, gesturing for Steve to sit on the side of the bed. "Jarvis?"

"I informed Clint that his presence is required in Master Stark's room moments ago."

"Tony?" Another voice came from outside the door. Tony reflexively moved to face the door Clint was about to enter through before he remembered that none of them could see or hear him. "Don't tell me you blew yourself up again," _'That was _one _time, Clint.'_ "It's not my job to clean up your mes-" Clint walked quickly into the room wearing nothing but his sleeping pants. He stopped as he regarded the two men in the room near Tony's visible form. "What's goi-"

"I believe Tony's gone into a coma, Clint," Bruce said bluntly. _"Way to carefully tell a man that is also a master assassin that one of the few people he is close to is in a coma. Really, you deserve a medal, Bruce."_

"I think it would be best for his health if we took him to a hospital for further testing, but Captain Rodgers refuses to believe me."

"_Because he seems to _actually _know what he's talking about when he says that it won't help and the results won't change."_

"No one just randomly falls into a coma. Tony's just... I don't know, maybe he was drinking last might and passed out or something," Steve said, his tone more hopeful for reassurance than hopeful to provide it. _"Face the facts, Cap, no one in this room believed that."_

"Well, it _can _actually happen, Steve. With our work, added to Tony's normal lifestyle, I'm surprised something like this hasn't happened to Tony before."

"_Oh please, really Bruce?"_

"Maybe we should take him to the hospital... Just in case," Clint, a flicker of worry in his eyes.

"I think that would be a wise course of action at this point, Dr. Banner." Said man jumped as Coulson appeared seemingly out of nowhere behind Clint, his suit oddly wrinkled and his jacket, tie, and shoes hanging in his hand.

*** STONY FOREVER ***

Tony flinched along with Steve when the doctor pulled out an enormous syringe to take a sample of Tony's blood with. Tony could swear he almost felt the needle enter his arm and an odd sensation as the blood was pulled from his veins. "We'll have this taken straight away to the lab for testing. After all, Mr. Stark's health _is _very important to us _all_."

"_Why in Hell did they give me the same idiot from last time? Besides, he doesn't care about getting me better, he just cares that it's me who donates the majority of the hospital's funding."_

Steve sighed as the man left him alone with Tony. Bruce was going along to oversee the blood's tests and Clint and Phil had stayed at the tower to call the others and inform SHIELD. "Please be okay, Tony," Steve whispered.

*** STONY FOREVER ***

Late at night, all was quiet in the hospital. Tony had been kept overnight for observation, but he was going to be sent home so he could be taken care of by the best doctors money could buy in the comfort of his own tower. The tests had confirmed that Tony was in a deep coma, but none could depict a reason as to why. Bruce had left a few hours earlier to join Clint and Phil in the tower; but Steve had refused to leave. It had been amusing to Tony when the nurse had come in about an hour ago to tell _the Captain America _that visiting hours were over. Steve had politely informed her that he was staying, but Tony and the nurse both saw the spark behind his eyes warning her to leave him be. No one had bothered him since.

Steve was currently sitting in one of those obnoxiously, but numbing hard hospital chairs that he had moved right next to Tony's bed. He held Tony's left hand in his, his eyes halfway closed as his fingers ghosted over the scars on his forearm as he remembered when he had discovered Tony that morning. _"Yet again you have hurt the one person you really can't live without," _a voice in Tony's head scolded him.

"Tony?" For a second, Tony had believed that Steve could see him before he noticed Steve's gaze on his physical form. "I... I told you once... that you weren't a hero. Umm... There were times, _at first _I didn't even think you were human, but let me tell you this. You're the best man, the most human... being that I've ever known and no one will ever convince me differently, so... There, I was so alone... Everyone I had ever known and loved was gone, but you gave me a home... and I owe you so much. But please, there's just one more thing, one more miracle, Tony, for me, don't be... Just wake up. Would you do that for me? Just stop it. Stop _this_," Steve stopped to swallow a hiccup, a few tears escaping his eyes and running down his rosy cheeks. "I can't stand to lose someone else I care for, not... not again, Tony.

**A/N: Any thoughts? Please send me a review or any suggestions you may have. Thanks! -A**


	18. Natasha

**Disclaimer: I own squat.**

Chapter Eighteen: Natasha

Tony stood in the corner of the small room, watching the scene before him. Nothing much had happened in the past hour since Steve had fallen asleep at his bedside, but he felt as if he couldn't leave Steve alone. After his idiotic doctor's diagnosis of his _"sudden and incomprehensible coma,"_ Tony had been moved into the Avengers tower in order to keep him-... Well, to keep his body safe until he could return, or wake up, as it would seem to the others.

A heart monitor was hooked up on his right, and someone had put one of those _super _annoying breathing things in his nose because of his slight decrease in breathing. At one point or another, a chair had been dragged into his room and placed to his left. Steve had been with him practically since he had found Tony in his little 'nap' about two days ago.

Bruce and Clint sometimes dragged him away to eat or to shower, but the stubborn man always ended up sleeping in that damn chair right next to his bed. Tony would have thought it cute or moving or some other lovey dovey bullshit if it weren't for the fact that he had never been very big on the open displays of affection ever since his father's abuse, so, forever.

Bruce walked quietly into the room having taken his shoes off at the door. He stopped to Tony's right, checking the readings of the machines before checking Tony's pulse by hand. He sighed, finding no change in Tony's condition since they had come back to the tower. Bruce glanced at Steve, slumped over slightly, head bent at an uncomfortable angle.

He walked into Tony's closet and disappeared into the back of it, unwilling to turn on the light and risk waking Steve. He reappeared moments later, an old blanket from Tony's days at MIT in his hands. Bruce unfolded the soft material and placed it lightly over Steve's shoulders. "It'll be okay. We'll figure this out," he whispered. Tony wasn't sure if Bruce meant that for Steve or if it was just to reassure himself, but either way, Tony sure as Hell hoped it was true.

"_Look at them. They all _care_ so much. Do you every wonder if there's something wrong with us?"_

Tony turned to face Loki, lurking just inside the doorway. _"We are nothing alike, Loki. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't even be here right now. I could be with _them _instead of stuck here with you!"_

"_Come now, Stark. Every fairy tale needs a good old-fashioned villain. You need me or you're nothing... We're just alike; you and I, except you're boring. You're on the side of the angels."_

Steve stirred, blinking blearily at Bruce. "Any change?"

"No... How are you?"

Steve seemed to think about it for a minute. "Fine."

"_All lives end. All hearts are broken. Caring is not an advantage, Stark."_

"_Do you ever shut up? Seriously, you're worse than me. Just put me back and stop causing everyone so much trouble."_

"_The trouble with trouble is, it starts out as fun."_

*** STONY FOREVER ***

A week later and not much has changed. Steve still watches over his unconscious body until usually Clint, sometimes Bruce, manage to drag him to bed with promises that they wont take their eyes off of him if Steve will only take care of himself for a while.

Seeing as the Tesseract was the only power source strong enough to transport Thor and Loki up to Asgard, it was likely they wouldn't be seeing the big blond until after the magical rainbow bridge was fixed since Odin had probably locked away the casket with even better security than before.

Natasha was still off God knows where on a mission that seems to be getting more complicated and dangerous by the hour. The few inhabitants of the tower were slowly getting used to Phil popping up every so often, no one mentioning how he always heads to the coffee machine first thing in the morning from the direction Clint's room is in.

Bruce was simply getting more and more frustrated as he continued to fail to figure out what had happened to his teammate. Whenever Clint took over babysitting duty for Steve, he would sit in the chair next to Tony with his feet propped up on his bed.

Tony usually tried to avoid Steve's shifts since they only seemed to break his heart, but he enjoyed Clint's visits as the man liked to tell stories from old SHIELD missions. If Tony would have only known he'd need to be in a coma to finally hear the story of Budapest then he would have tried to imitate a coma a long time ago.

"So, yeah... I guess this would be less awkward if you were awake to say something stupid so I could hit you," Clint trailed off looking around the room. "Nah, I'll do it anyways." Clint leaned forwards and knocked the back of his hand against Tony's head almost playfully. He sighed. "I know we didn't have much time to get to know each other before... Well, before Afghanistan, but that doesn't mean I can't see what's going on, Stark."

"_Well, isn't this heartwarming," a voice spoke up from behind Tony's spot near Clint._

"_What the fuck do you want this time, Loki?"_

Clint's voice lowered slightly. "You were different when you came back. It was just like my first mission all over again. I know neither of us are good at talking out our feelings... at least to someone who is conscious... but I want you to now that I get it. I understand what you went through because I did too. It wasn't quite as long, and I was trained for it, but that doesn't mean the outcome is any different. I guess I just... I'm here. I'm here for you if you ever need someone."

"_I want you to know just how far I am willing to go to have you on my side. Consider this a warning, Stark, for the next time it will be the good Captain I will go after."_

Clint scoffed. "Damn, I sound like I'm professing my love for you, man... About that, though. Stark, you really need to get your shit together. All of us have noticed how Steve started disappearing with you down to the lab or to those meetings after you guys stopped your pissing match." Tony snorted at the image.

"And you know what? Personally, I'm getting pretty damn sick of all of your kicked puppy looks you give Steve when you think no one is looking. I'm a fucking _spy_, dude. It's my _job_ to notice _everything_... We're betting on you guys, you know. Phil, Natasha, Bruce, Hill, and I... Hell, I just can't wait to see Fury's reaction to his least favorite person corrupting the national symbol for America or whatever. I bet he-"

"_What the fuck does that me-" Tony turned around to find nothing but thin air._

"Clint!" Bruce burst into the room breathing heavily as green eyes bored into Clint's.

Clint was standing in an instant, body alert, eyes searching for any immediate danger. "What is it?"

"Clint, I'm so sorry. It... It's Natasha. She- Something went wrong on the mission. She's gone."

**A/N: Any thoughts? Please send me a review or any suggestions you may have. Thanks! -A**


	19. Into Darkness

**Disclaimer: I own squat.**

Sorry this update has taken so long... Like every other update... Oops

Chapter Nineteen: Into Darkness

Tony's eyes opened, a blurry figure consuming most of his vision before he shut them again against the light. Someone was talking but Tony was still working out what the fuck was going on.

"-ony... Tony! Can you hear me? Are you awake? Tony?"

"Hmm"

Tony heard a sigh. "Can you open your eyes for me?"

"No," Tony mumbled.

"Please, Tony."

Tony cracked open his eyes slowly."Wht?"

"Tony, do you know where you are? Do you know what's going on?

"'Vngers Towr. Yer wakin' mh up," Tony slurred. He lifted his hand and gently rubbed his eyes. Taking in the sight of his companion, Tony asked "Are you 'kay, Bruce?"

"Yeah, things have been pretty tough while you've been out."

Deciding now would be a perfect time for coffee, Tony swung his legs to the side of the bed. "What're you talking about?"

"You've been... unconscious... for quite a while."

"How long?" Tony began to stand.

"Seven weeks." Tony's legs buckled underneath, the muscles not quite ready to support weight just yet after lying still for so long. Bruce managed to catch Tony before he could face plant onto the floor.

"What?" Tony asked, slightly alarmed. The memories came flooding back to him and Tony had to sit down slowly onto the floor.

"You went into a coma seven weeks ago, Tony. I was just coming in to check on you when I saw your eyes moving."

"What happened?"

"We don't really know. We had some tests ordered up at the hospital but they all said you were just fine. Do you have any idea of what happened?"

Tony paused. "No."

Bruce didn't seem to notice. "What is your last memory?"

"I fell asleep in the lab. Steve carried me up to my room, I think. There was a thunderstorm and I got scared. I asked Steve to stay with me, and then I fell asleep. That's it."

"Well, it doesn't seem like you've lost any memories so my worries of a brain injury can be put to rest. Could something have happened to your arc reactor to make something like this happen?"

"Not that I can think of. My arc pretty much only deals with my heart, nothing else."

"Alright... Well, I want to check you over and make sure you're okay. After that we can tell... we can tell the others you woke up."

*** STONY FOREVER ***

Tony sat unstaring at the window, a light rain pelting the glass. It was late; any lights left on had been dimmed by Jarvis. He had forgotten the memory about Nat and all of the ones afterwards.

"Tony?"

Tony flinched, remembering his conversations with Loki.

"Are you okay?"

"I lied."

"What?" Steve took a hesitant seat next to Tony.

"I lied to Bruce... about what happened."

"Why would you do that?... Do you know what happened to you?"

"I remember things, things from when I was unconscious," Tony continued.

"Tony, you were in a coma. They were probably just dreams."

"I remember what you said to me... That night in the hospital? I remember."

Steve's mouth opened and closed, unsure of what to say. "Oh."

"I remember other things, too. I learned things, things I wasn't supposed to see or hear. Secrets."

"What secrets?"

"I also had time to think," Tony ignored Steve's last comment. "Plenty of time to think about what I was doing, about what I should be doing."

"Tony, what-?"

"I'm leaving, Steve."

"Wait, where are you going?" Tony stood and began walking away. "Tony, wait, what are you doing?" Steve got up to follow Tony but stopped when the man turned to face him.

"Goodbye, Steve."

Steve stood in the middle of the room dumbstruck as Tony walked away silently into the darkness.

*** STONY FOREVER ***

Tony walked away from Steve, every fiber in his being begging him to turn back. He took the elevator down to the garage; mind still processing what he was about to do.

Tony stopped the car in front of a beautiful mansion out in the middle of absolute fucking nowhere. He walked up the steps, glanced around once, and then knocked on the large wooden door. The door swung lazily open and Tony walked inside.

"Anthony." Tony looked to the top of the grand staircase in front of him. "I'm _so _glad you could make it," the speaker grinned.

*** STONY FOREVER ***

"Bruce, I think Tony left."

"He just woke up from his coma last week, Steve. Where would he have gone?"

"I don't know. I was speaking with him a few minutes ago. He was talking about remembering stuff while he was unconscious, learning secrets and things."

"Like an out of body experience?"

"I guess, I don't know. But then he said he had a lot of time to think about what he's been doing and what he needs to do instead. I didn't know what he meant. Then he said goodbye and he just left."

"He shouldn't be off on his own, not yet anyways."

"We need to go and find him, Bruce," Steve tried not to let the rising panic seep into his voice.

Bruce nodded. "Is anyone else here?"

"No, Coulson and Clint went back to the Helicarrier for a meeting or something."

"Right, well, I guess we'll have to find him on our own."

*** STONY FOREVER ***

It had been a little over a week since Tony had left the tower. Bruce and Steve hadn't been able to find a trace of him, neither had SHIELD when they looked for him. Jarvis had apparently been shut down sometime before Tony had left, and neither Bruce nor any of SHIELD's hackers could get him back online to ask about his creator.

A call had come in while the remaining Avengers had been on the Helicarrier trying to get any information about Tony's whereabouts they could; Loki had been spotted near the edge of the city. Clint, Bruce, and Steve boarded a Quinjet and set off towards the sighting. As they landed, Steve spotted the first of ten mutant wolf like creatures. Overgrown and razor sharp teeth didn't allow the mouth of the creature to close, it's dark fur was missing in patches, it's tail was thick with muscles and probable heavy enough to be used as a weapon. Blood red eyes instantly transfixed on its new prey, sharp claws clicking on the asphalt road as it ran towards the men.

Clint quickly scaled a building, finding a good place to shoot from and Bruce's shirt split as the Hulk let out a frightening roar. The grotesque mutts descended upon the remaining Avengers as best they could. Two knocked straight through the wall of the building Clint was on top of, racing towards the staircase that led the way to the roof.

Five other creatures went for the Hulk, two of which were attacked immediately. The Hulk roared with pain and anger as their claws and teeth dug into his skin, pushing one of the wolves away from himself while reaching for the one latched onto his back. Clint let loose arrow after arrow into the mutt's backside until it dropped lifelessly to the ground. The other three wolves after the Hulk held a loose circle around him as they planned a better strategy to fight the enormous green man.

The last three wolves set their sights on the lone Captain. With no Tony to get his back, Steve turned sharply to glance at each wolf as they too began to circle their prey. One of the wolves gave a sharp bark and as Steve turned to look at it, the wolf behind Steve lunged. Steve turned in time to raise his shield in front of him, the impact of the furry body pushing him backwards a few feet. The wolf charged him and Steve remained still until he suddenly smashed his shield into the mutt's nose, a spray of red blood falling to the ground accompanying a wet squelching noise. The heavy body of the wolf fell to the ground and did not move again, only serving to anger the remaining two wolves nearby Steve.

"Shit!"

"Hawkeye, what is it?" Steve asked over the com, not daring to turn his eyes from the wolves in front of him.

"They're coming up the stairs, I can hear them. I don't have anything to barricade the doors... Looks like I'm coming to you, Cap."

"Be careful, Clint."

Clint reached behind him and grabbed an arrow, quickly notching it in place. Without sparing any time, Clint let the arrow go, running towards the edge of the building before it even hit it's target. The arrow pierced through cement and steel just as Clint jumped from the building, the snapping jaws of one of the wolves catching his arm by chance. The animal yelped, it's momentum pulling it over the edge of the building next to Clint. Halfway down the line and Clint heard the loud thump as the creature hit the pavement below.

Clint jumped from the line a few feet of the ground, tucking and rolling with his injured arm held securely in place.

"Clint, you make it alright?"

"One of the bastards got my arm, I can still shoot but you won't want to get too close to anything I'm shooting at." Clint breathed, leaning against the building behind him for support.

"I'm on my way over to you. I'm about two blocks away."

"How's the big guy going?"

"He's down to two wolves but they're taking their toll on him."

"Fuck... How are you doing, Cap?"

"I'm right here." Clint turned to see Steve next to him, his back to the building as well and his eyes fixed on the two approaching wolves. Clint heard the other wolf run back through the other side of the building, large paws scrabbling on chunks of rubble. The three wolves quickly surrounded the two men, forming a tight semicircle to close them in with the building.

"What the?" Steve trailed off as he spotted the Hulk approaching the two men, a small vial sticking out the side of his neck as he carried the bodies of the other two wolves in his hand, their carcasses dragging on the asphalt. The Hulk stumbled, blinking his eyes slowly before collapsing in a heap.

"Clint, the Hulk is down. Someone else is here."

"Yup." Steve turned to look at Clint, but the other man's head was pointing to the sky. Floating above them, clad in his usual garb, was Loki.

"Greetings, asshat!" Clint called out.

Loki glared at Clint but did not move to attack him.

"So, what're you gonna do now that you don't have your little alien friends to attack Manhattan anymore? You decide to see if _mutts_ would work any better?"

Loki sneered. "No," he practically purred. "I think I'll just let my new _friend_ help me in my plans."

Steve spotted the Iron Man suit a few blocks behind Loki and fast approaching.

Clint scoffed. "What dumbass-" Clint cut off as Iron Man stopped to hover next to Loki not one foot away. The suit's arms raised, pointing towards Clint and Steve as the gauntlets quickly charged up.

"How did you get his suit?" Steve demanded, his eyes narrowing at Loki. The faceplate of the suit slid open and locked into place.

"Tony?"

**A/N: Any thoughts? I didn't really like this chapter but I wanted to have something to post... Please send me a review or any suggestions you may have, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks! -A**


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